Directors: Jorg
Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski, Andreas Marschall
If you have been following the site for some time, you know
that we love horror anthology films. For better or worse and in the case of
anthologies, a little bit of both. One of the cult horror films that has been bubbling under the mainstream conscious is German
Angst, which has been floating around in various releases for the last few
years, and it finally hits Blu Ray from Artsploitation films in the US. Now, when a film
finds that cult stream like this did, horror fans tend to build it up and can overhype
it as ‘the best film you haven’t seen’ and keeping your expectations in check is
the best way to approach German Angst.
Particularly because the film is much more artsy and diverse than maybe some of
the marketing would lead one to believe. The results are impressive
though and, while it may seem a bit slow at times or too vague with its
narratives through the three stories for some mainstream horror fans, each of them delivers on their promises
in some effective ways making the entire film one that more hardcore horror fans will definitely
want to dig their teeth into.
Notable Cast: Dee
Wallace, Geoff Morrell, Sarah Bishop, David Collins, Janis McGavin, Gerard O’Dwyer,
Bjorn Stewart, Deelia Meriel, Sam Campbell
Holiday themed slashers are all the craze right now and in
indie, low budget horror it’s thriving. After watching films like All Through the House, A Christmas Horror Story, and having
films like Good Tidings and Better Watch Out on my upcoming queue
for the season, it felt proper to watch at least one during the Halloween binge
I had in October. That film was the Australian film Red Christmas. Oozing with style, this controversial topic emblazoned
slasher is pure exploitation (Ozploitation) and yet executed with absolute
intent on being taken seriously as a horror film meant to stir a debate and it’s
here that perhaps the film will either win its audience or lose them, as any
truly effective cult film will accomplish. In that sense, it’s hard not to
praise Red Christmas even if it has
its problematic moments and pieces. Its intent is executed with
style.
Notable Cast: Pedro
Carvalho, Diego Goullart, Mariana Cortines, Clara Verdier, Pedro Caetano,
Felipe Frazão, Ivo Müller, Sidney Santiago
I can honestly say I’ve only seen a handful of Brazilian
movies and none of them were horror. Then again, that’s the benefit of a
company like Artsploitation who digs through so many foreign horror films to
release them in the US. Some of their titles can be hit or miss, but I’m bound
to be entertained by what they have found recently. This includes seeing my
first Brazilian horror flick, The Devil
Lives Here. With no expectations going into the film, to be perfectly
honest I had never heard of it until Artsploitation announced its release, The Devil Lives Here is a fantastic
little low budget horror flick that blends cult horror with haunted house,
slasher, and possession pieces. Running at a brisk 76 minutes, it never over
stays its welcome, it builds a solid mythology, and keeps things moving. I’m
not sure what else one could ask for from a film like The Devil Lives Here.
Notable Cast: Nina Ivanisin, Lotos Sparovec, Nika Rozman,
Sebastian Cavazza, Jurij Drevensek, Manca Ogorevc, Damjana Cerne, Matic Bobnar,
Damir Leventic, Ajda Smrekar, Liza Marija Grasic, Kaja Janjic
Also known as: Idyll
On the back of the box, Killbillies
claims that this film is “proving that the American South does not hold a
monopoly on sexually depraved, bloodthirsty hillbillies” and this is a key
statement to understand just what this film holds. Not just in the content that
the film contains, but the approach that it takes. In many ways, if it wasn’t
for the language being spoken, Killbillies
never really feels like a foreign film in a traditional way – even by modern
horror standards. This is a film that whole-heartedly embraces the backwoods
killer formula and style as its focus in some very American ways. In this
manner, it is disappointing as Killbillies
is perhaps the first film I’ve seen that is Slovenian and I felt like it so
desperately wanted to be underground American horror that it somewhat loses an
identity it might have had. Truthfully, the film is not nearly as bad as the
title would have indicated, but it’s also a film that firmly rests as a Wrong Turn film with the attempted
execution of the visual and tonal style of Alexander Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes. Not terrible, but not great either.
Notable Cast: Veronica Polo, Anthony Rotsa, Victory Vidal,
Fele Martinez, Marta Flich, Almudena Leon, Caroline Munro
As I’ve said before in various reviews, I’m not inherently
against remakes. Really, I’m not. In the case of many low budget or older
films, there are ways to modernize or change a film without deterring from its
core intentions and that breeds some creative material in many ways. Vampyres, a modern day Spanish remake of
the 1974 exploitation cult film, had a lot of potential to raise the bar on the
original and it was obvious that the director and producers had a lot of
respect for the films of exploitation past – when one looks at all of the
cameos from cult character actors that appear in this film. So it’s an
unfortunate turn of events when this updated sensual vampire flick rarely
embraces its own artistic hints and simply goes for the simple solution. For
those looking for a film with gore and skin, it will certainly fit the minimum
requirements of entertainment as a modern day exploitation film. For those
hoping for a little bit more, i.e. me, Vampyres
is a lackluster horror film with little outside of the basics to appease a
growing appetite for better films in the exploitation arena.
Notable Cast: Pit Bukowski, Daniel Fripan, Oona von Maydell,
David Scheller
At times, I like to think of finding strange and often
abrasive new films is a challenge. This challenge is easy when the weird films
come straight to you and there is no digging through the underground involved. Artsploitation
Films did all the work for me. The hype around the oddity that is Der Bunker was already somewhat high,
thanks to the film’s run of film festivals including Fantastic Fest, and when
it arrived at my office for review I was decently excited to see what it was
all about. Truly though, I think we have a winner for the award of “WTF Movie
of the Year” because Der Bunker is a
defiant movie. It defies to be categorized by genres, it defies a lot of
logistical writing, and it defies conventional reason when it comes to some of
its themes and approaches them at odd angles. The trick of its defiance? It’s
really fuckin’ good at it. Good enough that the more I think about it, the more
Der Bunker is going to end up ranking as one of my favorites of the year.
Notable Cast: Lindsay Farris, Stephanie King, Tom O’Sullivan,
Benedict Hardie, Brendan Cowell, John Jarratt
Too often genre films like horror are overlooked as lower forms
of cinematic entertainment, but there are a handful of companies that are
digging up the best of independent horror to showcase the depth and range of
the genre. Artsploitation Films does they best to find the unique and
impressive films that lie under the surface of what gets released and they do
occasionally strike gold. Their latest acquisition for release in the US is the
Australian arthouse horror flick Observance
and it’s a hum-dinger. The film is full of unnerving atmosphere, licked with an
artful touch of vagueness and subtlety that’s too often ignored in the genre.
Not only is it a thoughtfully unsettling film, but it’s damn good at it too as
it pulls comparisons to Hitchcock and the classic thriller without deterring
from its modern touches of surrealism.
I will admit it now. The
Perfect Husband had me. It had me tricked and the final scenes of the third
act took me by surprise. Normally, this is a good thing. A film has you looking
one way and it hits you from the other. For this little low budget horror film,
it’s not necessarily a positive thing as that’s not quite how it works in the film, but
the final portion of the third act most certainly saved it in some regards.
However, I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, what you need to know for this
introduction is that The Perfect Husband
is a mixed bag of artful approaches to what boils down to an exploitation film. While the finale made me go back and watch it again (immediately when I was
done the first time, I just hit replay) to see some of the detailing, this horror film still doesn’t
quite knock things out of the park. Those looking for an ambitious movie are
certain to find some things to love by what The
Perfect Husband has to offer, but those looking for a movie that executes its ambitiousness may have to look a bit further – or just accept that this film
comes with some significant flaws and run with it.
Notable Cast: Adam Boys, Gabrielle Giraud, Kasey Ryne Mazak, Ken Tsui, Dwayne Bryshun
While it might seem unusual to the average person, I was
pretty excited to watch Bloody Knuckles.
The concept of a severed hand taking revenge for its lost body, mixed with
offensive elements and plenty of gore, sparked an interest in me. Perhaps it’s
my odd love for the massively overlooked horror comedy Idle Hands or the odd blend of horror, comedy, offensiveness, and
revenge flick that Bloody Knuckles
promised, but I was pretty stoked to be throwing in the Blu Ray when it arrived
on my doorstep. It just might be these expectations of cult horror comedy gold
that left me a bit underwhelmed overall by the film. It certainly has its
moments and for the casual horror fan it might find some of it as offensive,
but Bloody Knuckles didn’t quite
execute the outrageous promises that it seemed to have potential for. Fun,
sure, but not nearly as effective with the mix as one would hope.
Notable Cast: Sabrina Ramos, Ana Maria Giunta, Lauro Veron, Toto Munoz
AKA: Limbo
Vampire films are a dime a dozen. They have always been a
consistent force in the horror genre, but in the last decade or so they have
been the subject of a lot of different genres from teeny romances with Twilight to comedies like What We Do in the Shadows. Children of the Night, a low budget
Argentinian film getting a US release through Artsploitation films this year,
is a whole lot of genres blended into one film. The low budget hinders a lot of
how the experience of this film works, but Children
of the Night is a remarkably quirky and refreshing spin on the classic
vampire genre. One that will certainly find its cult audience.
Director: Jonas Govaerts Notable Cast: Maurice Luijten, Stef Aerts, Titus De Voogdt, Evelien Bosmans
We have seen our fair share of films with young outcasts many times. Main characters whom are belittled, teased, bullied, and beaten to a pulp for their differences from the average boy. But we have never seen it quite like Cub. Director Jonas Govaerts has created an almost fairy tale like horror film revolving around young 12 year old misfit Sam (played by Maurice Luijten) for his first feature after dabbling with television and shorts. The backwoods horror film gets turned on its head here where instead of a hillbilly killer chasing down a bunch of sex craved teenagers, our protagonists are mostly children and our villains look nothing like insane country bumpkins. Can this story of modern folklore prove true enough to wow audiences or will it fall flat on its face? While not 100% fresh, there is enough substance to say that it is absolutely not the latter. There is a dark presence in the woods and Cub is ready to bear its teeth.
Cub starts us off with Sam rushing to make it in time to a boy scouts trip. The imaginative young boy, always last to line up with his fellow scouts, is the outcast in the group with only one friend who fears the wrath of the other scouts if seen too often with him. We are then treated to the scout leaders (played by Stef Aerts and Titus De Voogdt) telling a mythical tale of Kai, a werewolf boy that prowls the woods in search of victims at night. It is well indicated on the way to the campsite that Sam definitely believes in the tale. On the way, one of the leader’s girlfriends (played by Evelien Bosmans) gets picked up as the group’s cook. Upon arriving at the site, they decide to pitch up tent deeper in the woods thanks to a run in with some French hoodlums. Our characters might find themselves regretting the decision however since there is a lot more truth to the story than fiction...
I found Cub to be quite unique as we are treated to a film with enough violence and the unusual feature of finding the protagonist to be a child. Govaerts does a good job with making us sympathize with Sam while learning with time to spot those that prey on him. It isn’t always the villains in the woods either. As individuals outside of the boy scouts pack get picked off by a mysterious man and his young fairy tale figure, Sam’s curiosity takes the viewer around to some interesting places. While Cub is mostly a serious film, there is still comic relief here and there which isn’t overbearing and is definitely welcome. With time we see Sam evolve from a picked on kid to a survivor willing to fight to help the scouts and his own life. While the feature spots some great violence, a lot of the thrills come from the traps. This is more than just your average bear trap but it’s so complicated that you can expect a whole Rube Goldberg machine laid out in the forest and they’re quite entertaining. Maurice Luijten does a great job and the rest of the cast isn’t too shabby either. You might find yourself pulling your teeth out with some the decisions made by some of our characters as they are not always the brightest. It doesn’t happen frequently so we can easily forgive Govaerts... thankfully.
Overall Cub was not a very memorable film, but the good news is that it was an enjoyable one. We always want to get a good look at the mysterious and animalistic Kai and his owner as they get rid of the intruders in some common or creative ways. Belgium has been continuing to grace us with their fair share of horror after films like The Pack and The Ordeal (Calvaire) and horror fans are ready for a second helping. Cub teaches us that sometimes we can prove to be more than just a victim and to beware because sometimes even the most improbable of fables and urban legends have some truth to them.
Notable Cast: Tygo Gernandt, Marwan Kenzari, Sarah Chronis
Oh yes, the dreaded expectations of a film. High
expectations can easily kill a film before it’s even out and low expectations
can make even the most dire of Z-grade exploitation flicks fun and pleasantly
surprising. When it comes to remakes, expectations can be the utmost efficient assassins.
Particularly when it’s a remake of a highly praised film. No matter how good a
remake is, it can simply fall short to its predecessor and stumble out of the
gate. This is where Reckless comes
into play. Like many great films that simply couldn’t touch its originator (Let Me In to the superior Let the Right One In is a prime example
that comes to mind), Reckless is too
much like The Disappearance of Alice
Creed to truly stand on its own and it never finds its own voice…despite
some strong executions along the way.
Vic (Gernandt) and Rico (Kenzari) have it planned perfectly.
It’s the perfect ransom. The daughter (Chronis) of a wealthy businessman. His
only child. It’s quite frankly, the perfect crime that will leave them $4
million dollars richer. That is, if each member of this crime remains true to
the cause and doesn’t execute their own agenda in the meantime.
No stress for the napped.
The Disappearance of
Alice Creed is a phenomenal thriller. It’s too bad that it remained
something of a cult gem because it’s one of the most intense, thoughtful, and
dynamic low budget crime flicks of the last decade. It also means that, for
most of the film watching community that missed out, Reckless is going to be a fresh and shocking film instead of the
frame-for-frame remake that played for me. If you haven’t seen Alice Creed, I highly suggest taking a
gander as it’s technically the superior film, but that doesn’t stop Reckless from gunning for gold at least.
An admirable trait for a film that remains completely and utterly unnecessary
as it adds nothing new to what Alice Creed
did as a film.
So let’s throw out the comparisons between the two films for
now and focus on what Reckless does
right: execution. The plot itself starts off very straightforward and with only
three characters to tell its story, it remains a very tight and quick paced
flick. The dialogue is littered with subtle character building, the twists that
arise in the second and third acts are tense, and the resulting finale stamps the
narrative with some very artistic force. What seems to start off as a simple
hostage thriller quickly takes some classic tropes and ignites them with well implemented
finesse. The twists are not brain busters, but the characters are so real and
the situation is so well developed that it’s hard not to get sucked into the
story and just run with it as it takes off. Even though most of the characters
are assholes to some degree, there is a connection with the audience and it’s
an edge of your seat ride all the way through.
At times Reckless unfolds
like a theatrical piece with limited settings, limited action, and limited
budget. Don’t mistake this as calling the film simple or boring. It’s neither.
It just means that the actors and director (not to mention editing) have to
carry the film. All three of the principle parties on screen deliver strong
performances with enough conviction and emotion that when the plot calls for
distrust and paranoia they don’t have to overact to sell it. They blend in with
the tense thriller atmosphere so well that they probably made the director’s job
easy to sell the entire concept even when it gets a bit ridiculous towards the
end. Simply said, Reckless is just a well-executed
thriller.
Roll the dice, it's loaded.
Truly, the only real thing that I can knock about Reckless is that I saw the exact same
film, years ago and done just slightly better. It’s the kind of thriller that
requires a fresh sense of dedication to the characters and plot to ride along,
but when all of the plot points are exactly the same it zaps a ton of the fun
and intensity out of the film. A big part of me desperately wanted the film to
pull a massive 180 in the final act and deliver something new, but Reckless sticks to the same blueprint of
Alice Creed all the way through…and
it’s hard not to find that disappointing on some level.
For those who haven’t seen The Disappearance of Alice Creed, you are likely to find a
massively enjoyable and intense thriller in Reckless
that utilizes its simplicity to massive effect. For those who have, you might
as well skip out on this one and simply rewatch the slightly superior original film as Reckless seems desperately unnecessary.
Notable Cast: Geert Van Rampelberg, Ina Geerts, Johan Van Assche, Laura Verlinden, Dominique Van Malder, Roel Swanenberg
There is a kind of film that exists which impresses with its
thoughtful writing, crisp execution, and impactful themes, but remains a film
that’s hard to call enjoyable. This is exactly where The Treatment falls as a film. It’s a gripping, intense, and often
hard to handle thriller that touches on some very disturbing subject matter
within its plot. It’s one of those films that as the final credits rolled, I
kept replaying the events of the film in my head over and over as it had such a
lingering effect on me. It also speaks volumes to the strong execution that
this film utilizes to tell its dire tale…one that’s certain to be remembered as
a strong contender for best thriller of the year.
Nick (Rampelberg) is a great detective and one whose
dedication to sealing the deal is powered by the disappearance of his brother
at a very young age. When a family is discovered beaten and starved with their little
boy missing, he will stop at nothing to bring the perpetrator to justice…even
when the strings he pulls begin to unravel a massive and decade long series of
events that might even link to his own past.
"I'll get that bird that did this to my car."
In any great thriller, the plot is never as simple as it
seems—but with The Treatment, that’s a
massive understatement. It’s not that this Belgian film is out to throw in red
herrings left and right just for the sake of complicating matters nor are the
twists going to be flying in from left field, but the way that The Treatment unfolds is like a
blossoming flower. Instead of beautiful petals and fragrance though, it’s a
decent into the mind and underbelly of a criminal perversion that is likely to
horrify the viewer. As the audience rides along with Nick, played with a
massive screen presence and intensity by Geert Van Rampelberg, the film
continually takes its atmospheric tension and breathless series of events to
the next level with turn after twist after twist after turn. While this film
sits firmly in the thriller genre and even more likely as a police procedural
at times, it’s ten times more horrifying than 95% of horror films likely to be
released this year and it’s the gritty realism that makes it so impactful. It
might be cliché to refer to this kind of intense film as a ‘white-knuckle ride,’
but there might not be a better description for the experience that The Treatment is.
I’m specifically
keeping many of the details about the plot vague here as The Treatment truly is a film to experience. Director Hans Herbots
navigates the subtle narrative and extreme visual elements of the film with
such artful ease that often I was consumed by the way the film was playing
out and I forgot that I was even watching a film. Whether it’s the numerous phenomenal
performances from an astounding cast (early on in the film we see the mother of
the family that was held captive and her brief screen time was brilliant to
watch, and these kinds of minor yet stand-out performances litter the entire film) and an
almost relentless pacing that prevents the audience from relaxing, The Treatment is not a film for the weak
of heart. If you took what Prisoners
did and fold in even a more intense and horrifying plot then you are just
starting to understand what this film delivers. It’s a film that is executed in
the highest of caliber and it makes every bit pay off.
I've had nightmares that started off this way.
Let this review be a warning as much as it is a praise of
the film. The Treatment is the kind
of cinema that’s going to leave a mark on its audience. The execution is astonishing,
from the acting to the cinematography, and the way that Herbots handles the
thoughtful and consistently writhing plot truly complements the deep atmosphere
and horrific circumstances that are being unraveled onscreen. This is not the kind of thriller than one
watches “for fun,” but one that one watches to truly experience a story…no matter
how dark and deep the hole it digs. I can’t say that I enjoyed my time with The Treatment, but the film gets a
resounding recommendation for me as one of the most intense film experiences
you will have this year.
