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Surgeons of Horror

~ Dissecting horror films

Surgeons of Horror

Tag Archives: Movie review

Movie review: Mom and Dad

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by surgeons of horror in Movie review

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horror films, Horror movies, Lance Henriksen, mom and dad, Movie review, nicolas cage, selma blair

Most parents will identify with the struggles that they encounter when raising children, and that strange balance of absolute despair and unwavering love that they have for their own kids.

It’s this balance that writer, director, Brian Taylor scrutinizes and tinkers with, asking the question, what happens when that need to protect and care for your offspring has a switch that is flipped and the desire to kill takes over.

It’s a controversial topic that Taylor lifts the lid upon and not only singles out one family, but makes this a global issue. It’s one that needs to be addressed with no real answer offered up by the director, which is interesting position that he chooses to go with.

Whilst choosing to tell the tale as a global epidemic with parents heading out to murder their children, we’re hit with troubling images head-on when a mother deliberately abandons her child in a car upon the railway tracks, as a speeding train plows into it.
A shocking image that as a parent myself, I found deeply uncomfortable to view, and sets the tone throughout the film, and pushes me to areas that I found hard to take as a result. For that end the movie certainly does its job in presenting some horrific scenes, notably when one mother attempts to kill her newborn in a birthing suite.

The global epidemic plays out like something from Dawn of the Dead, with news bulletins, chat shows, and reports playing out on screens in stages as the story unfolds.
One particularly glorious scene involves a ‘zombie-like’ rampage as hordes of parents scale the school gates and chase their own throughout the grounds, with some disturbing scenes unfolding before you.

Part of this film’s appeal comes with the killer casting of the storylines Mom and Dad, with Nicolas Cage suitably restrained and playing to his age, whilst still giving his ‘ham and cheese’ moment which had become his schtick over the years.

It’s the refreshing presence of Selma Blair though that steals a lot of the scenes, showcasing her delicate, caring mother, to a murderous, gleeful, maniacal figure, who is hell-bent on destroying her kin. Blair’s delivery is wonderfully subtle and as a viewer she plays with your desire for her to show that loving spirit her character displayed in the earlier scenes, and cruelly pulls away from that every time. It leaves you wanting to see more of her on screen again.

It’s worth noting that the children, Zackary Arthur and Anne Winters pull off some strong performances that keep you rooting for them to survive their ordeal, but the final scenes are almost completely stolen away by a Lance Henriksen’s cameo.

 

The Diagnosis:

Some of the director’s style allows the movie to come across as quite sparse in places, but Taylor clearly has a knack for allowing the actor’s room to breathe on screen, whilst delivering a hefty punch.

The subject matter can make you feel uncomfortable in places, but this only makes the movie all the more stronger as a result.
Potentially this film may fall under the radar, which would be a shame as it’s a decent entry into the genre.

 

– Saul Muerte

Movie review: Future

17 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by surgeons of horror in midwest weirdfest

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conor sweeney, future, horror films, Horror movie, midwest weirdfest, Movie review

Ever felt like your life was fading into oblivion without a single blip on the radar screen?

What if, one night some one broke into your house and kidnaped you, only to tell you that they are from the future and you only have 4 days left to live?

What’s more, they could offer you the chance of an alternate; one of happiness, on one condition…
By the end of the 4 days you must kill someone.

What would you do?
How would you cope?
How would you spent the last few days of your life?
And when it comes to the crunch, would you be able to take someone’s life?

This is the dilemma that Doug Erickson, Tea Barista faces as he oscillates between ending it all or continuing on the strange journey that now lies before him.

Guiding him along the way is the shambles wreck of a time traveller played by (Phreddy Wischusen) who comes across as a warped version of Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life, accompanied some mysterious henchmen in white masks.

It was refreshing to see Conor Sweeney (The Editor) on the screen again as Kyle, the local drug dealer, and the presence he brings as a guy who actually cares about Doug and tries to lure him back into the real world.

The Diagnosis:

Whilst the acting can be a bit hit and miss, It’s a tough topic that directors Rob Cousineau, and Chris Rosie present the audience with and they should be commended for approaching it in a bold, new way.
Fans of Indie cinema may be pleasantly surprised with the final result and the journey that Doug undertakes to come to his ultimate decision.

  • Amber Gooerty

Catch the screening of Future at the MidWest WierdFest.

You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway.  (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!

Movie review: Fake Blood

10 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by surgeons of horror in midwest weirdfest

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fake blood, horror films, Horror movie, mike kovac, Movie review, rob grant

Here’s the interesting thing about horror as a genre.

If you are a fan of romantic comedies and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a real life meet-cute, you’re likely gonna continue to be a fan of romantic comedies.

Get whisked away by aliens and fly in a space ship? Your love of sci-fi will probably deepen. (Provided the experience is more ET and less The Thing – ie: orifices remain probe free).

Like westerns? Drop that person on a horse. Love porn? Give him a threesome.

But take a horror fanatic and chase them with a chainsaw wielding clown, or strap them to a slab and cut parts off their body? Probably not gonna be an enthusiast any more.

For only in horror could it be argued that the majority of those who love it, do so in the hope of never touching it. Much like the greyhound who catches the rabbit, it’ll ruin them.

And so, we come to the meta-meta film Fake Blood.

It is a “documentary” made by real life film-makers Rob Grant (no Red Dwarf fans, not that Rob Grant) and Mike Kovac.

In reality they have made two low budget independent horror films – Yesterday (2009) and Mon Ami (2012). You can imdb them.

Despite the no-small-achievement of making 2 feature films, both still have day-to-day lives (one as a jobbing actor, the other as a freelance editor) and off the bat you get a sense that this is a sore point for Rob (the film’s narrator) who is very much hungry for wider recognition.

That’s when they get emailed a fan video where said fans walk through a hardware store re-enacting a scene from Mon Ami.

The scene itself is fairly innocuous, but the fans’ take on it is disturbing. So much so it starts Rob and Mike on a quest to explore violence in films and their responsibility (as film makers) to it.

It begins as an almost fun investigation as they use real people to help them shoot actual guns and fight trained martial artists; all in a quest to discover first hand their “differences” to their movie counterparts.

Then the opportunity presents itself to interview someone who seems to have first hand knowledge in killing people…

The film then unfolds at a decent clip as the two men get drawn into a criminal underworld where people disappear. BADLY. Which gives everything a level of gritty realism very much outside their previous forays into zombie horror and black comedy violence.

As a film – despite their best P.R. attempts to neither “confirm or deny” the events in it – Fake Blood is clearly a mockumentary. Ie: Blair Witch without the witch, found footage where the coverage becomes conventional where it needs to be.

And despite the fact it tries to pass off certain elements of the film as “real” (which almost NEVER works, as real life is never “cinema clean” – especially when you’re presenting your work as a true verite experience. The biggest giveaway tends to be in the performance. Another is HOW things are captured by the camera – but this is all stuff for another review) the really interesting aspect to Fake Blood is its constant jumping out of itself.

It portrays the 2 film-makers interviewing “real” people who have lived through “true” horror, then cuts to re-enactments of those horrific moments, then cuts to the men SHOOTING those re-enactments, and then have them interview the people in the re-enactments!

Both Rob and Mike eventually come into conflict (the heart of all good drama) as Rob’s ambition to make an attention-grabbing film starts to betray its original idea. Something that’s all super meta because despite being dressed as a documentary, the film is clearly a written drama from the outset.

And on top of all THAT, you do want to see how it ends. So from that point of view they have both made a good film that, at the very least, will make you think. And that’s as real as any film-maker could hope for.

 

Prognosis:

As dramas go, it’s a solid fake. As documentaries go, it’s a poor imitation of the real thing.

 

– Antony Yee

 

Catch the screening of Fake Blood at the MidWest WierdFest.

You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway.  (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!

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