vWv124's Tiny Beam of Light

Shining a tiny beam of light on some great films you might not know existed (and the odd blockbuster too).

November 26, 2009 • 12:03 pm 0

Carriers (2009) dir: Àlex & David Pastor

I have to admit that I have a bit of a penchant towards end of the world type movies – and there have been some particularly good ones over the last few years such as ‘Right at your door’ (2006). I tend to prefer those based in reality rather than say zombie flix, maybe because part of me is secretly going ‘what would I do if it was me in this position? Perhaps I can learn something here for when civilization does collapse and maybe survive!’

There was definitely some of this going on as I was watching ‘Carriers’. It opens with 4 friends mucking about on a road trip in a stolen car. Within moments we discover that they are survivors of a viral pandemic that has wiped out almost everybody. They live by a certain set of rules, one of which is that if someone is infected you leave them because they are as good as dead. Of course it all goes horribly wrong. If it’s you who gets infected – screw the rules! But I felt that it was all played out pretty truthfully, any person they came across was terrified of these four characters and vice versa. Who is infected and who is not? You can’t immediately tell and so fear leads to ‘ordinary’ people killing each other – dwindling the tiny human population further. The whole story was convincingly and economically told by writer/directors Àlex and David Pastor with good performances all round (I thought Christopher Meloni whom I hadn’t seen before was particularly good – he reminded me of Mark Strong).

Even with a pre James Tiberius Kirk Chris Pine the film criminally only took about $100K in the US and disappeared without a trace. Track it down!

Filed under: film, horror, sci-fi, thriller , , , , ,

November 25, 2009 • 12:39 pm 0

Heartless (2009) dir: Philip Ridley

I had no preconceived expectations for this film whatsoever as I had no idea who Philip Ridley was so I sat down to watch with interest.  (Turns out he wrote ‘The Krays’, is a playright and lyricist and is a very nice man who is passionate about filmmaking.)

A Faustian story of Jamie (played by Jim Sturgess in a pretty committed performance), a young man with a heart shaped birth mark covering part of his face and upper body, who shuns direct contact with people but sees lizard type daemons dressed as hoodies on the streets of East London. These daemons go around viciously killing people.

Watching it I felt myself torn in different directions because the film is both pretty conventional and kind of obvious where it’s going to any horror fan, and yet unconventional at the same time with it’s setting and style. So watching it, I could feel myself going “this is not too good”, then something would happen and then I’d go “actually this is really good after all”, then something else would happen and it would be “oh man that’s annoying – you should watch more horror films mate” then boom “that’s pretty clever, I’m hooked!”.

Afterwards, I realised that I had missed some of the subtle details in the overall design and look of the film but other story elements were a bit obvious and I personally would have preferred the film to have ended differently – but that’s just me.  But you know what?  I really liked it! And it was great to see part of East London (Shoreditch to Bethnal Green) which I’m pretty familiar with. I even noticed that one particularly seedy looking location (where Jamie hooks up with a rent boy) is the exact spot where I often park (not to pick up rent boys I hasten to add but to go to one of the many great Vietnamese restaurants round the corner). Anyway, I digress.

Interesting supporting cast includes Luke Treadaway, Noel Clarke, Timothy Spall and the lovely Clémence Poésy. The always brilliant Eddie Marsan almost steals the movie as ‘Weapons Man’ (and is worth the price of admission alone) and Joseph Mawle is pretty creepy as ‘Papa B’.

I think it’s going to split an audience’s reaction (which is not necessarily a bad thing) – but it’s definitely worth checking out.

Filed under: film, horror , , , , , , , ,

April 15, 2009 • 4:42 pm 0

Let The Right One In (2008) dir: Tomas Alfredson

I’m not going to say much about this as it’s got rave reviews pretty much everywhere and is already in imdb’s top 200 .

However, you may be put off by this new take on the vampyre story because it’s in Swedish.

Don’t be.

The film is terrific.

Don’t wait for Matt Reeve’s (Cloverfield) version!

Filed under: cinema, entertainment, film, horror, movies , , , ,

November 26, 2008 • 1:53 am 1

Mum & Dad (2008) dir: Steven Sheil

**Please note that the odd comment in this particular blog may cause offense!**

First off, though I love horror movies I’m not that keen on the torture horror sub-genre and ‘Mom & Dad’ certainly tip toes into this territory. It also brings in a couple of additional depraved elements to make the audience squirm. You lads out there reading this… well you won’t be wacking off any time soon after you watch this – if you see this film you’ll know exactly which sequence I’m talking about!

The film is also very British, which is refreshing, kind of like an episode of ‘Eastenders’ gone wrong (or right) with a dose of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’.  It’s like a perverted sitcom in a way. For you Brits out there think the comedy show ‘My Family’ with meat hooks and needles with about the same amount of comedy i.e. none. (Actually if ‘My Family’ was more like ‘Mum & Dad’, I might actually watch it once in a while.)

The setup? A family living near, and working at, Heathrow airport trick foreign workers to come home with them, where they are imprisoned and tortured. It definitely pushes the yuck button but without building any real tension or suspense. Olga Fedori is convincing in the lead role as the victim we follow and Perry Benson (who I last saw in Somers Town – which I liked by the way) is as good as ever, particularly vile and nasty here.

One of the first films out of the London Microwave film scheme it was shot in 17 days on a shoestring. It is also the first UK same day multi-platform release:  cinema, DVD, Sky Box Office and download – all on Boxing Day. So you can take your choice, maybe as an antidote to too much sugary viewing on Christmas Day or just to shock your Granny. (It does have a very black Christmasy element to it.)

So to rip off a quote by Mr Perry Benson himself: this is the drum and bass of the horror genre. Imperfect but worth a look if you’re a fan.

Filed under: cinema, entertainment, film, horror, movies , , , , , , ,

 

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Looking forward to:

Tiny: Unstoppable
Medium: Centurion
Ginormous: Avatar

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