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Reviews
Let Me In (2010)
The Undead Star-crossed Lover
"Let Me In" is a breath of fresh air for fans of the vampire-horror genre that are suffocating on the current teenie-bopper "Twilight" trend. The vampire lifestyle is not romanticized or glamorized, with the undead being iconic, aloof, seductive, or misunderstood in the world. A little girl and her father move into a low rent apartment, becoming nameless neighbors, in this instance with the inability to afford shoes. Though presumably this vampire has survived for decades or centuries, she is just a little girl, fumbling through a relationship for the first time. She is not a wizened old soul in the body of a child. She is a child like any other, until her hunger takes control and she becomes something feral. An original, enveloping, American horror movie has not been presented in years. This movie is not an exception (it is a Swedish remake), but it is nice to see something that isn't a remake of a film that is Japanese, or from the 70's. This film is well made and well performed, with a story line new to American audiences, making it definitely worth the ever-inflating price of theater admission.
Halloween II (2009)
Great movie with the wrong title
If you enjoyed Zombie's previous works, this film should be mandatory. If you have children with you, or dislike gore, stay far far away.
Rob Zombie's sequel to his remake of the original Halloween stays with the story of John Carpenter's Halloween 2 for about the first ten minutes before it breaks off into a remake of Halloween 4.
Staying true to the original two films, this story starts off where the first ends, with a trip to the hospital on the night of a brutal massacre. However, after a blood soaked ten minutes of terror in the hospital, the audience is ripped away to the story of Halloween 4. Danielle Harris is even there, just like in 4, only this time as the friend instead of Michael's last relative. Just like Danielle's original character Jaime, Laurie is haunted by the image of Michael in her dreams while living with an adopted family. After the carnage, with the nightmares of her brother running through her head even while she is awake, Laurie sports the mask and becomes the family's new killer, just like Jaime who dons the clown mask to kill her mother and become mute.
The only differences come from the fact that Jaime was a little girl, while Laurie is a teenager, and that Rob Zombie is nothing like John Carpenter. The story is unoriginal, but it is a great addition to a great horror franchise with Rob Zombie's brutal violence and filthy language saturating every second. John Carpenter's originals keep the blood and gore at a minimum, with knife swings penetrating flesh off screen. Zombie celebrates every chance to show people inside out, making audiences white-knuckle armrests as the body count rises.
La terza madre (2007)
Fairytale Style Disappears in Trilogy Finale
While the Mother's Trilogy started out as an adult fairy tale, Mother of Tears is a distinctly different type of movie, breaking this fairy tale. This is not saying that it is a bad movie, nor is it saying the film is unique by being different from the first two films of the trilogy. Mother of Tears is both better done and more ordinary than the majority of Argento's films.
This is not an Argento film stylistically. It is more congruent with the current stream of uniform remade horror films coming out today; it is just better done while keeping a relentless pace. Susperia and Inferno both created a fairy tale world with every scene cloaked in blue and red light, and dramatic artificial shadows streaking through an over-the-top background while a shadow figure kills everyone it comes into contact with, only revealing its hands in the process. In Mother of Tears, red is a much used color, covering much of the background, but it is absent in the surprisingly normal lighting, and there is no set of hands killing people mysteriously.
Once again, the more typical style doesn't make this a bad film. The editing and cinematography are good. Audiences aren't confused by what they have seen because everything flows together quickly and cleanly. For the first time in the trilogy, the film is not set in the home of the Mother, thus making it unfeasible to have some garish set that detracts from the film by pulling audiences out and making them question, "What kind of complex has a lobby like this (Inferno)," or "Why is there some room filled with spools of razor wire with the door two feet over the floor (Susperia)." The music also is more typical of a traditional film, and not characteristically Argento. I always enjoy listening to what rock/ pop songs Argento puts into his movies, but it often doesn't fit. In Demons (though only produced by Argento), the music fits well, but in Phenomenon I had to question why I was listening to a Motorhead track. Mother of Tears has a score, fitting the timing of the action and editing.
The biggest let-downs of this film must be the C.G. effects and the actual Mother. The Mother seems unimposing, nothing more than a half naked beautiful woman with bad eye makeup, and the showdown between her and Sarah is amazingly short and anticlimactic. The C.G. effects are thankfully few and far between, with Argento masterfully doing his death scenes as he has always done, without computers. However, the sparsity of C.G. images make the few stand out even more.
With almost 30 years between films, it is no wonder this film stands out as different from the previous two. It is a good, much awaited finale to the trilogy. It is also nice to finally see one of the much feared Mothers actually do some damage as opposed to just ruling over a dance school. I have pointed out many of the flaws of Argento's works while writing this review, but do not wish to take anything away from the auteur, or make readers avoid any of his films. Argento is such a master of the genre that his daughter was titled "The Princess of Horror" from birth. His style has continually evolved over the years, bringing audiences something different with every film and every subsequent viewing.
Mirrors (2008)
despite
Despite the lack of Japanese names in the credits, after only 5 minutes of viewing I was positive that Mirrors was just another film to be added to the ever increasing list of remakes being released in the United States today. It wasn't until later that I discovered it is South Korean, not Japanese. The plot is similar to most Japanese film being remade in the U. S. today: ghosts that can only be seen by, or come after the living through, videos, cameras, reflections, or static. Despite the let-down of viewing another remake, I was still excited about the prospect of another Alexandre Aja film. Mirrors is well done by both the actors and the director. The closed-down mall, though over the top, sets a great atmosphere. The body count is surprisingly low, but there is still enough gore to make you squirm in your seat, with the first death being both bloody and mundane, and the second being so unique it is painful to watch. The ending twist will not blow your mind, but it is portrayed well, linking together earlier imagery. Despite being another remake, the actors and director help set the film slightly above the avalanche of cloned films out there right now.
Opera (1987)
Originality makes it worth a watch
This is not Argento's best film by far, but if you are a fan of the director, or just a fan of the horror genre in general, this movie is worth a watch. Argento is always original, and Opera is no exception. His death scenes are top notch. Nothing of his that you watch is the same as anything else out there. On top of this, Opera is visually stunning, with beautiful backdrops drenched in lots of color; this is an Argento staple. Subjective shots are constant, which is also an Argento staple, but in Opera it is a little different. With Argento, subjective shots usually show the world through the eyes of the killer and make the audience relate to him or her. In Opera the audience also sees through the eyes of the victim, who is forced to watch everything unfold around her. The problems with this film are the acting and the script. Starting with the former, Argento's young leading lady gave him problems throughout the shoot. She did not take direction well due to her inexperience; Argento claims this is the first time it ever happened to him. With the script, there are holes throughout the story, and everything gets wrapped up a little too neatly as the killer explains why it all happened. The ending is also dreadful. The company releasing the film in America asked Argento to cut the final scene, but the director refused.