Rinne (2006)

An actress is the target of weird supernatural happenings after getting the lead in a movie about a massacre that happened in a hotel 35 years ago. Meanwhile, a college student tries to figure out why she has reoccurring dreams and visions about the same hotel.

Shimizu tries to get out of the shadow of Ju-On with this picture. While the mainstream gets hooked on the “technocurse” stories, Shimizu uses his movie as somewhat as a shoutout to his inspirations and weaving it in an original story, making it his own. His signature location shots really bring this out. While it’s touted as a “horror movie”, this is more of a psycho-thriller as it slowly uncovers inch by inch of a mystery. It’s very well paced and works well with jump scares.

While I don’t have problems with the movie, many have been bored with the pacing as well as become confused with the understandable ending. Another thing that hurts the movie is that it was part of the 8 Films To Die For collection. A lot of the movies in the collection use a lot of gore and shock. To be hit with a slow rise horror like Rinne really hurts it.

The disc from Lionsgate includes a behind the scenes journal, an interview with Shimizu, deleted scenes which are just odds an ends and trailer park. The Audio and video were great as always.

3 stars.

El Ataud del Vampiro (1957)

A grave robber accidentally resurrects Karol Lavud while delivering his body to a hospital Dr. Enrique resides in. Now Enrique must protect Marta from the evil vampire.

This is the sequel to El Vampiro that was released six months after it’s debut. A lot of the same actors come back and really click again. Abel Salizar shows more of himself including his comedic edge in this , which is awesome. A lot of the scenes are beautifully framed and Victor Huerta, the cinematographer, also plays a lot with light and shadows which creates a lot of memorable scenes. This is a very strong sequel and stands on it’s own at the same time.

If there is any downsides to this film…well..besides the cheap special effects (c’mon. give them a little slack)….I think it was a little too fast. While I don’t mind hitting the ground running, they were throwing everything out in one go. I don’t mine a little bit of pacing to set up things and get in the mood. This movie almost loses it. Another thing is that there were holes in the story. Nothing too prominent, but it’s just there. Certain character disappear and appear and you wonder what the hell happen to them. Otherwise, it’s cool.

this is the second disc out of the Vampire Chronicles from Casa Negra. This is like the first disc. The video and audio quality is excellent. You get the original film and K. Murray cut along with the old radio ad put out in the US.

Of course, like El Vampiro, this is a must have. Even though this movie is packaged in a two disc package, if this was a stand alone and if you were collecting Mexican horror, I’d say get this one around near the end of the journey. This is a big title, but I think that seeing both movies back to back kinda flattens the series. So pace yourself with this one

3 stars.

El Vampiro (1957)

A woman travels to her hometown to find her hacienda dilapidated, one of her aunts dead and her other aunt strangely begging her to sell the hacienda. It is later found out that all these happened under the cunning mind of a vampire who wishes to resurrect the remains of his brother and use the hacienda as a new headquarters.

Mexico’s first classic horror movie.This is what started Fantastic film in Mexico. The gothics and atmosphere are great. The cinematography is very moody and framed wonderfully. The acting was very well done. Especially from German Robles, who makes his debut in this film. Fast trivia fact. Robles character, Karol de Lavud, was the first vampire not only to be filmed getting out of his coffin, but also the first vampire to bar his fangs as well.

What really made this film great was that they took the idea of vampires and the Universal ideal and made it their own. Where Universal’s Dracula took place in an alternate reality and Hammer’s Horror of Dracula took place during Victorian England, El Vampiro took place in the present day rural Mexico. This helped the build up of tension and horror better. Which makes it so good.

If there needs to be any complaints about the film, it’s that Abel Salizar was as utilized as the Van Helsing type character. Sure, he was built up that way, and it was cool someone else killed Lavud, but Abel’s character was too much Harker to be Van Helsing.

Again, Casa Negra gives you packages. This is the first disc in the two disc collection. There are some defects in the film and shows on the DVD, but I’m Cool with that. The audio is alright. You get a ton of extras. You got both original print and the K. Gordon dub. A commentary track by author Robert Cotter, who is the big aficionado of Mexican Fantastic. A photo essay, “Fear a la Mexicana.” by historian David Witt, Abel Salizar’s obituary from the Boston Globe, bios and An American Radio ad.

All horror fans must have this in their collection. This is a classic in the way that it started a great trend in movies. It is a must. General fans will dig it too as a conversation piece.

Five stars.

Chakushin Ari (2003)

A viral curse goes through cell phones and sends “messages” to the owners giving them evidence of their deaths at a certain time in the future. It’s up to a woman and the brother of a former victim to figure out how this started or risk becoming their next victims.

This is Takeshi Miike’s jaunt in “mainstream” picture. His first time away from indy and V-cinema and his handling of “new wave” cinema. While I do want to say something good about the picture, this is a…standard effort from Miike. I think he took this job to see if he can work under set and dried rules instead of working with his own. All he put out was a standard. Sure, his cinematography and certain themes he works with is in there (dysfunction, The Outcast), if you put this side by side with other technocurse genre, you wouldn’t be able to pick out his. There is some great scare sequences and stuff that builds suspense though. I do like the idea that the curse transmits via cell phone. Over in Japan, The cell has got this omnipresent presence in culture. It’s a perfect subject to prey on.

I definitely find it funny that Hollywood, out of all the movie catalogue of Takashi Miike, choose this movie. The movie that has the least amount of Miike How retarded are they? “Let’s see. We can never win with Fudoh, Visitor Q, Dead or Alive or Happiness of the Katakuras. I can’t make fuck all of Audition and Ichi the Killer….*sigh*…wait. Long haired ghost girls? Cell phones? What Is this movie!?!” I will laugh my fucking ass off if they bring Miike in to direct an Erin Kreuger written sequel. It’s freaking silly.

Tokyo Shock has put out a two disc feature. First disc is the movie with English Subtitle and Dub. The second disc is interviews with the cast. Deleted scenes which are nothing to write home about, trailers and an interview with Miike himself.

I’d recommend it to Miike completest. Nothing more. General fans can rent it when they want to. Again, it’s not a bad movie, but if you seen one scary ghost girl movie, you saw them all.

three stars.

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Orientation and the Lost Review

This is an Introduction to this podcast and it’s use, plus extras from my reviews and the review of QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE which never got published. Check it Out!!

When There’s No More Room In Hell….

From the good friends at Deadpit.com

Coming Attractions…

La Maldicion de La Llorona (1961)

A woman and her husband returns to the home of the aunt who raised her on the eve of her 25th birthday, only to find out that she is the basis of curse that sees her become  forced into the resurrecting of La Llorona.

A lot of people who I’ve talked to about this movie has stated that it has a very Black Sunday like vibe to it. I tend to agree. Black Sunday was released a year before this picture and I wouldn’t be surprised if Rafael Baledon, the director was inspired by Bava to make this film. What makes it interesting is that you can not say it’s a copy. While it does have the basic structure, Baledon amps up the Gothics and adds a bit of supernatural psychedelics to make it his own. His play with shadow and light, as well as working in just one large set makes the movie truly unique. The music also works well with  the movie. I wish the score was availible to purchase. The actors work well off one another, especially between Rosa Arenas, Rita Macedo and Abel Salazar, who by this time have worked on projects together before.

I think the only thing I had trouble with was the pacing. There were several moments that felt like they dragged on and on. Now granted, my first and second viewing of the movie was hindered because I was quite tired the time I was watching the movie. The third and fourth viewings however had myself nodding a bit.Things were a bit too silent and a bit too slow. I’d have preferred a bit more dialogue to kill the monotony.

I love Casa Negra. They’re like that cool new friend you just made who finds out some of your hobbies and leads you to a whole basement of glorious joy because he or she knows you’ll probably put it to the best use. They give you a very well made package. Not a DVD, a package. You get a bilingual disc with the original print and the K.Murray Prods. dub (I dig the original because it flows smoother.) The video is brilliant and the audio, despite some wear is quite good. Extras include stills and poster gallery, an essay on Baledon by David Wilt, bios, a commentary track done quite well by Casa Negra veep and historian Michel Luizza and an insert containing another essay by Entertainment Weekly’s Peter Landau as well as original art done by Rue Morgue Magazine’s Gary Pullin. See! A package!

I urge the horror and general film fan alike to pick this up and give it a once over. You will not regret watching this movie.

Four Stars.

Just Before Dawn (1981)

A group of mountain climbers go off to the Ozarks to climb the range only to run into unexpected visitors who know the mountains more then they do. They now need to survive to actually make it back.

Made by Jeff Lieberman, the director of Squirm, this is a competent slasher movie. A lot of people like to compare this movie to The Hills Have Eyes, but I really don’t see it. First of all, it’s to beautifully framed to be a copy. Also, the big bad hides in plain sight. The people just doesn’t notice it yet until it was too late. Be it something subtle like hiding in the foliage or something forced while being diverted like jumping on top of a Winnebago while the rear view mirror is used for cosmetic purposes. They might night see them but we do. Another reason this movie is good is the soundtrack. While the soundtrack is awesomely made by Brian Fiedel of Terminator 2 fame, the most suspenseful parts was done without music. The forest provides the soundtrack. It also got a very interesting ending to it as well.

While I can’t see anything wrong with the movie, if I was a casual just watching this movie, I’d be wondering when the killing starts. While you’re given a taste in the beginning, it doesn’t start really going until the later half of the film. If you’re impatient, this is not a movie for you.

Shriek Show does an awesome job with such a little movie like this. Two discs of content is waiting. You got the movie and a good commentary from Jeff Lieberman on one disc and on the other you have trailers, printed materials as well as an hour long documentary about the movie as well as the people involved in the process in making it. You got to check it out. The movie is a bit on the “natural” side, but I’m somewhat a fan of aged film. The sound is crisp and clear.

three stars.

Behemoth, The Sea Monster (1959)

While in England, a marine biologist is compelled to investigate large amounts of dead fish washing up on the coast of Cornwall. His investigations lead him to a radioactive dinosaur that was awakened from a long dormant sleep.

England’s first kaiju movie, it was to be originally an invisible monster that gave off radioactive vibes. When director Eugene Lourie couldn’t get a buyer, he gave in to an English production house demands for a tangible monster and told the scriptwriters to combine the inviso-monster with the script of a previous movie he did, The Beast of 20,000 Fathoms. Lourie also hired the talents of Will O’Brien who was well known to everyone as the man who made the King Kong model, but also the father of Stop Motion. This was O’Brien’s last film as he was struck with sickness and most of the stop motion work was done by assistants.

With that being said, this movie takes too long in building the monster up. While I don’t mind watching scientists go up the military food chain, they could have condensed it and get to the creature. The reason for this is that the effects budget was gypped and they really had to rush to make fifteen minutes of film. While the Behemoth look good at first, the editing and camera angles hid a rush job. They only had one model, so they had to be real gentle about it. In short, this was a drawn out movie because the animated footage was too short.

This DVD is part of the WB’s Cult Camp Collection: Sci-fi Thrillers collection. The audio is nice. The video is a bit natural but isn’t too bad. The extras include a trailer and commentary by Denis Muren and Phil Tippet of Equinox fame and special effects creators. While I think they would have been a great help talking about as stop motion and the work of Will O’Brien, I do think they should have gotten a third person in the fold to do commentary about the film end. Tim Lucas or someone could’ve been a good balance to Tippet and Muren. This was one of the weaker commentaries to sit through. Informative none to less.

two and a half stars.