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analogeist83
Reviews
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Spectacular horror experience
I am always wary of remakes of classic horror films, but this version of the Hills Have Eyes did not disappoint. First of all, the soundtrack was fantastic. The sounds really gave the feel of reality being eaten away by radiation while the orchestral parts gave a powerful emotional underscore to the scenes. Although the movie starts off slow, the action picks up at a pace that is neither too slow, nor too jarring. Even as someone who has seen a lot of horror movies, I was made rather uncomfortable by some of the nasty situations, but I still found myself cheering for the hero as he battled the evil mutants. This is probably because I am a registered Democract and also happen to sell cell phones for a living, and thus can relate to him rather well. The political aspects of the film are in the same commentary realm as that of George Romero. I don't often find myself on the edge of my seat much anymore in the theaters, but The Hills Have Eyes really gave me my money's worth. If you can stomach it, go see this film as soon as possible.
Saw II (2005)
Wretched, but not in a good way
Shame, shame, shame. I actually enjoyed the first Saw quite a bit, and had hopes that this installment would meet or surpass its predecessor in quality. Poor guess on my part. I am a huge fan of horror movies...I have been watching them since I was a child. This was no horror movie. It was a poorly put-together "psychological" thriller with some violence in it. Part of what made the first movie good was the anonymous evil-doer. Having Jigsaw out and front all the time just didn't do it for me. The movie tries to justify his motivations, but his diatribes into the human condition fall short of convincing me. Fear of the unknown is one of the strongest types of fear there is, and having the killer spell out all his intentions is really kind of a let down. Also, the twist just left me snoring. And another thing (whine whine whine) was that I just could not suspend my disbelief. So there is this terminal cancer patient who can barely walk, yet is able to put many large sturdy devices together. Sure, he has help, but look at all the gear setup, and you'll see what I'm getting at. Also, Jigsaw must be psychic. His big ransom is the son of the detective. So he sets up all these traps in order to reach a desired outcome. What if people dropped dead from the nerve gas early? What if one of the criminals flipped out and killed the boy early? Sure, he might have profiled them, but I had some of these same issues with Mindhunters. The kicker is that I just don't care about any of the characters in this movie. They're all jerks, and it doesn't pain me to see them die. The end. Don't see this movie, it is a waste of time.
Dark Water (2005)
Would have made a great Lifetime channel movie
An angry manipulative husband. A troubled mother struggling to raise her daughter. Issues with women in families. No, this isn't the made-for-TV Lifetime movie of the week, it is in fact Dark Water. Let's get some things straight. I enjoyed the Ring. Patchy plot, but scared the crap out of me. So then this new Japanse horror-American rehash comes out. I expect some good scares. Things that might give me some trouble sleeping. You know the deal. Bad assumption on my part. To the movie's credit, the music and sound are very well done. Jennifer acts well, she is just in the wrong flick. They give you enough information by the middle of the film to figure out the "secret" so the second half is pretty much a paint-by-numbers ghost story. The twist at the end is weak, and only reinforces the idea that when you become a ghost, your sole mission is to stay in one location and be a tool to anyone who happens to encounter the scene of the crime against you. Gets old really quick if you ask me, just play Fatal Frame III and you'll see what I mean. I really enjoy horror movies, but this is in fact not a horror film. It is horribly boring. The cinematography is well-done, but as Hannibal teaches us, good camera work can't make up for a bad movie.
Equilibrium (2002)
I'm impressed
Before renting this film, I had heard a good bit of word-of-mouth hype about it. Not surprisingly, there were many comparisons made to the Matrix, but I think that this movie has a more solid feel to it. The Matrix, while still a good film, tries to be Philosophy 101 on the internet. Equilibrium is more direct with its cultural references, and thus comes across as being more authentic. The technology used in the movie is advanced, but not so much so that one feels this film takes place too far in the future. I also must admit that Christian Bale is a far better actor the infamous Mr. Reeves. The action sequences do utilize special effects, but don't go overboard with the "bullet time" shots that saturate almost every action film nowadays. The music is appropriate to the context of the film, and fortunately omits popular tunes which most action films use as an attempt to be more "hip." I would recommend this film to individuals who enjoy sci-fi with action that doesn't involve gigantic spaceships blasting one another with laser guns.