Some Velvet Morning - 2013 ****

 

Wow, this is immensely clever. And what a bizarre twist which I NEVER saw coming. I love it when films do that. After an affair some time ago, Fred turns up on his former mistress's doorstep claiming out of the blue that he has left his wife to be with her. The only problem is, she hasn't seen him for a long time and has now moved on with her life and started to date other people.

She's also not particularly keen to see him again after all the agro she went through last time when they were seeing each other. Fred doesn't seem to understand or appreciate this and plonks himself down on the sofa poised to stay. He doesn't even take the hint to go when Velvet explains she really has to be somewhere. And then things take a strange and disturbing turn.

There are only two actors in this, and there is minimum movement except walking around two rooms of the house. And still, the two of them manage to keep you gripped for the entire movie. And it's passionate, haunting and utterly surreal, until the end, when it all becomes clear.

I really liked it, and for a film that I imagine to be quite low budget and independent I really think Neil Labute has done exceedingly well in creating this beautiful piece. Sometimes films are all the more creepy when they at first seem so utterly normal, and then descend into something else.

(HORROR) Mischief Night - 2014 **

What the actual hell did I just watch??! *spoilers* Expecting to see a run of the mill intruder movie that would give me a few jumps, I was surprised that I appeared to be watching a film about a sadomasochistic teenager who falls in love with the maniac that breaks into the house she is babysitting. I did for a short time thing it was a clever spoof of the 'typical masked intruder' set up and the teenager was going to be very clever and outsmart him as a sort of parody, but then I realised she was just bonkers. There was a ridiculously long, drawn out scene where the pair drone on and on about their 'feelings' after he's attempted to kill her, resulting in them rushing up to bed and the maniac stabbing the teenager as they have sex because 'she wants it to hurt.' That is the sort of strange, surreal head trip that you should expect.
I have really never understood people who enjoy pain, when it's our body's way of telling us that something isn't right. Why anyone would go looking for pain is beyond me.
It's not what you are expecting at all and I guess it's sort of original, but not enough to be good.

The Moth Diaries - 2011 ****

A surprisingly haunting and eerie film, and Lily Cole is just extraordinary to watch. She has a certain beauty to her that reminds me of a Japanese doll, with huge eyes and a tiny mouth.
She plays Ernessa, a mysterious girl who turns up at an all girls boarding school and gradually integrates herself into the middle of a close friendship between two girls. Ernessa isn't all that she seems however, and before long she is threatening the close bond the two girls already have.
I enjoyed the film a lot, found it tense, and found the Marina and the Diamonds track 'Numb' at the end summed up the whole ethereal quality of the film.

The Ex - 1997 ***

It's quite bizarre that Yancy Butler has actually been in serious trouble with the police in real life. It sort of adds to her downright terrifying character. Here she plays a psychotic ex wife who cannot accept that her husband has moved on and married someone else despite years of being in a mental institution. Its actually quite scary how unhinged she is.

(HORROR) Twixt - 2011 **

'Twixt' is a veritable head trip. Val Kilmer is past it in more ways than one, and plonking him in these bizarre horror films is a complete waste of time. Kilmer plays a writer specialising in horror related literature. After being approached by the local sheriff of the town that he finds himself passing through, he finds himself caught up in a nightmare of epic and surreal proportions. I get where Coppola is coming from, but I didn't think this worked as a film at all.

Detention - 2011 ***

It's getting three stars for total originality because iv never seen anything like this before. It's slasher/comedy/sci fi/ all mixed together, and you are never quite sure which scene will inhabit which. It's a very dry almost black comedy, not a laugh out loud one, its or not scary enough to be a slasher. It's very weird. I can't say I loved it, but hats off to the director for manoeuvring such a fresh idea.

Sightseers - 2011 ** 1/2

What a peculiar film. I haven't seen Alice Lowe since she was in the brilliant 'My Life in Film' with Andrew Scott. This wasn't brilliant. It was just very strange and very slow.
Lowe and Oram play an unhinged couple who go off on a caravan holiday but end up compiling a large body count of people who get on their nerves. It's very dark, and cannot possibly be described as a 'black comedy' because its just not funny. Most of the time it's awkward and embarrassing.
Strange and creepy in my opinion.

Oblivion - 2013 **

I'm sorry, but Tom Cruise is past it, and no matter how many weird sci-fi type films he is put in, he will still be the same. He's washed out now, and nowhere was it more clear than 'Oblivion', a head tripping, post apocalyptic head **** that centres around Cruise cruising around (see what I did there..??) in a type of time travelling spaceship/plane and shooting at metal UFO's that look like they have been taken out of a Star Wars film. Then we have his incredibly English and very red-haired partner/friend/lover sitting at a massive computer clicking buttons and directing him. What fun. Then we have him going back in time and getting tangled up with characters there, as well as trying to get back to his present time. And to top it all, this riveting pile of gunk is nearly two hours long.

Abigail's Party - 1977 ***

I was expecting this to be far funnier than it was. Alison Steadman is great and to be honest there was nothing actually wrong with the characters, it was just such a bleak and awful drama that you finished watching it with a sigh of relief. Mike Leigh isn't exactly known for cheerful and positive playwriting but even so I wasn't expecting to be depressed for the rest of the evening. Abigail's Party is not the actual get together that we see in the film, it's the party of the daughter of one of Beverley's (Steadman) guests that is happening below. It's weird and rather ominous, with a lot of loose ends that don't get resolved and a horrible ending.

Stoker - 2013 ***

I've seen the 'Vengeance' trilogy by this director, and they all have the same weird slightly creepy vibe. I was expecting something else from 'Stoker.' I'm not sure what though. The story is (apparently) loosely based on Alfred Hitchcock's 'Shadow of a Doubt.' I sort of wish that I hadn't known that before I saw the film.
After her beloved father is killed in a suspicious automobile accident, India retreats into herself, that is, until her hypnotic and mysterious uncle Charlie appears, supposedly with the idea of looking after India's mother in the large old house that they have been left with. Charlie's intentions however, are much darker and obsessive than either India or her mother could ever have imagined. Nicole Kidman's performance isn't very strong either.
Worth a watch, but altogether disappointing compared to his trilogy of Tartan Asia Extreme movies.