BITS OF OVEN!!

Review Nugget : Saw 2

I avoided this film franchise for years. I’m not really sure why, something about it just put me off. Anyway I recently gave up on my prejudice and watched saw 2. From what I can gather the premise is similar to the other saw films, and in theory is the kind of idea that appeals to me. In theory.

The film follows a group of people trapped in an empty house. None are sure how they got there, but we come to realise that they are all being forced to atone for some unknown wrongs. They are informed that if they do not play along in the diabolical game their kidnapper has set up, they will all be poisoned by the gas that is slowly filling the house. What follows is essentially a string of grisly deaths and mutilations. I was expecting this. What I was not expecting was the strange blandness with which they are depicted. I can honestly say I have never been less affected by the depiction of graphic violence in a film. I think that partly where the film falls down is that it does not make any attempt to foster a connection with its audience. The characters are not developed, not particularly interesting and certainly not likeable. Despite his scary voice John Kramer’s ‘Jigsaw’ manages to be about as menacing as your uncle. Perhaps less-so. That said, the film does have one or two moments of visceral imagery that are very affecting. The pit of used hypodermic needles comes to mind.

I think this may be another example of a syndrome that affects many of these franchises. That is, a genuinely novel concept gets picked up and squeezed dry by unscrupulous producers. As such I’ll reserve judgement on the other films until I see them. This installment however, is about as scary as someone yelling “AH! REALLY BAD THINGS ARE HAPPENING!” at you over and over.

MULTIPASS!!

183

WHY BUFFY IS STILL GREAT #06

65

Review Nugget : Insidious

This is quite an odd one. At times while I was watching this I actually questioned if I had the right film…

Insidious is a film which extrapolates (in more than one sense) on the concepts set out in the paranormal activity films. That is, that the source of paranormal antagonism is not a place, such as a haunted house, but a demon which is haunting a specific person.

In this case it is the young son of Renai and Josh Lambert. Their son (Dalton) falls into an inexplicable coma not long after they move into their new house, and his mother experiences repeated encounters with things decidedly otherworldly.

The first half of the film is dotted with genuine creeps and jumps. The film makers put in and leave out just enough to give the scares authenticity; a nightmarish glimpse of a figure standing by the baby’s cot, a rocking horse swaying gently too and fro behind an open door. However the film unravels somewhat in the last half. The kabuki faced demon who until now had lurked menacingly in the shadows becomes a much more corporeal (and far less scary) actor in a suit. Come the last twenty minutes its all gone oddly hammer house of horror as they bring in the dry ice and the entire cast of thriller.

Its got a certain nostalgia going for it, but the mixture of 60s B movie horror and subtle fly on the wall chills is like stripes and polka dots. Not complimentary.

2

awesome.

3

So I tried to see Hanna this weekend. We had been sitting there about half an hour with me trying to decide whether to complain or just sit through it when my boyfriend finally got up and went and bothered someone. They seemed oddly unaware that the image was fundamentally skewed. They refunded our money, but mostly they looked at me like i thought they worked in a cinema or something.

I feel for you Brian.