Bone Tomahawk (2015) #428

Is it a western? Is it horror? Whatever it is, "Bone Tomahawk" is a dark and gritty film that holds and builds the tension from beginning to end. This isn't the first rodeo for horror veterans like Kurt Russel (x) and Patrick Wilson (x) who help drive the action and story forward. Note to viewers, the action that I speak comes much later in the movie than one might expect; the first two acts are filled character driven conversations that fill in the mundane gap of cross country travel. This film feels real throughout because of the scenes on the first two acts, and it becomes easy to forget that the film is about cannibals; it's this particular dark element that has the film crossing the genre line from western to horror after all. When the story reaches the third act, the action shifts from realistic to horrific while maintaining a true sense of realism. I don't want to spoil the surprise so I'll just admit that I was impressed with one action sequence in particular.

Writer/director S.Craig Zahler tries to make a clear separation between Native Americans and the cannibalistic tribe of Troglodytes, relying on a theory people actually had in the 1800's. The town of Bright Hope is seen as being very inclusive for the time period, and every opinion and voice is heard and considered. The Troglodytes themselves are represented as being under developed and basic while having some very interesting advancements of their own.

After their burial ground is disturbed by two thieves, a tribe of cannibalistic troglodytes seek retribution by kidnapping a town's doctor and deputy sheriff. It's up to Sheriff Hunt, his second deputy sheriff Chicory, the doctor's husband O'Dwyer, and a gunslinger named Brooder to go into the mountains and rescue the two before it's too late.

John Brooder, Deputy Chicory, Sheriff Hunt, and Arthur O'Dwyer

The Green Inferno (2013) #425

"The Green Inferno" is Eli Roth's ode to the cannibal movie sub-genre of 1970's and 80's, a film that offers plenty of gore as well as Roth's signature sense of dark humor. The movie is perhaps best known for it's mainstream theatrical release after it was dropped by its original distributor, even though it was well received during its time shown in the film festival circuit. When it was finally released on the big screen, I did see it with about a dozen other people at a local cineplex. And was it worth the wait? Meh....

The violence, the gore, and the very nature of the movie isn't meant the average movie attendee, but to have its distributor drop the film is a bit suspect. It's not the first or the last to have this happen and you can almost gunarentee that when it does occur, the film in question will earn more discussion than if it quietly appeared as planned. Much like Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses", I was expecting something more after hearing about all of the hype.

Essentially the movie is about a group of student protesters from Columbia University who fly down to Peru's portion of the Amazon in order to stop a logging operation that will destroy innocent tribal villages left untouched by the outside world. After successfully halting the operation and getting arrested in the process, the protestors begin to fly back to the city, but the plane that they are on crashes, killing some of the people on board. The lucky survivors are then found by members of the "innocent" tribe and are brought back to the village, only to find out that the tribe are cannibals. 

Rabid (1977) #400

"Rabid" is a thrilling and an unexpected surprise from writer/director David Cronenberg. As Mr. Cronenberg's fourth feature film, "Rabid" crosses genres and themes seamlessly, giving the viewer brief glimpses of material that the director would delve deeper into in the coming years. Elements of sexuality, unique violence, and general WTF moments fill this film in some of the most entertaining ways. It could be said that this film laid the groundwork for such films as "28 Days Later" and "REC", films that wouldn't grace the silver screen for more than twenty years later.

I was bracing myself for some particular cheesy acting and visuals because the film was produced in the late 1970's but my fears were quickly abated once the action began, mere minutes after the credits finished rolling. I love this movie because it IS so unique; the reasons and the way that one person makes another "rabid" is clever and completely original. The fact that all of the victims, including the host, never had any recollection of the horror that they experienced until they feel the thirst for blood and further spread the disease themselves.

Rose is severely burned after she and her boyfriend have a terrible accident on their motorcycle. Rose is rushed to a nearby plastic surgery clinic where the lead doctor tends to her wounds, using unusual techniques that have an unexpected side effects. The transplants and skin grafts take, but Rose is left with an unconscious thirst for blood and a new appendage from to which to feed. Each victim that falls prey to Rose soon becomes infected with rabies like symptoms as well as a similar thirst for blood. As the search for Rose by her boyfriend continues, the city slowly falls into chaos as more and more people become "Rabid".

Favorite moment - When the doctor that treated Rose begins to suffer is rabid tendencies while in the middle of an operation.

We Are What We Are (2013)

“We Are What We Are” is American remake of the Mexican film of the same name. This is a great remake where there are enough moments and parts of the original storyline in while having plenty changes to make this film unique and enjoyable. The first and foremost change between the two films is the fact that the gender of the family members is swapped, so where the father died in the original, the mother dies in the remake. This is a clever change that I’ve never seen before and it works out beautifully. The second most noticeable change is where the two stories take place; in the original the family lives in a poor section of Mexico City and in the remake, the family lives out in a rural town with a declining population. With those two factors in place and various cultural differences, the two movies are able to follow a similar story about a family of cannibals and how they try to carry one with their lifestyle after the family loses their “bread winner”. The remake earns bonus points because it addresses why the family has resorted to cannibalism, whereas the original never did.

The Parkers are a polite but reclusive clan who suddenly lose their matriarch, leaving behind her husband Frank, daughters Iris and Rose, and young son Rory. The timing couldn’t be worse for the clan because an important family ritual is only days away. Iris, as the oldest daughter, is now responsible for performing the ritual. Rose, on the other hand, is disgusted by the family’s history and wants nothing to do with it. The annual ritual turns out to be murder and consumption of a person that they’ve kidnapped and locked away in a cave like cellar under Frank’s work shed. The town’s doctor, Doc Barrow, becomes suspicious when he finds a bone in the creek one day. Having lost his own daughter after she mysteriously disappeared and the town’s high missing persons rate, Doc Barrow and Deputy Anders begin to follow the clues that lead back to the Parkers.  How the family reacts and responds is both thrilling and unsettling.

Favorite moment – The first act moves along nicely while the second act slows down a bit too much. I love the intensity and suspense that drives the third act to its thrilling conclusion. 

Rose...

Rose and Iris

Dinner time for Rose, Frank, and Iris

Author's Note - New Releases

Movie studios appear to be in high gear at the moment, producing some memorable solid horror films over the past two years. I might not personally enjoy each one but I can see how other people will; high production values, excellent casting, and sequels and remakes that deserved to be made. It’s an exciting time to go to the movie theaters or eagerly wait for the DVD release of the movies that are coming our way!

A Taste of Things to Come

Offspring (2009)

It was inevitable that I would end up watching a movie about tribal cannibals at some point but I honestly never thought that the movie would take place in Maine. “Offspring” is about a family of caveman-like cannibals that migrate up and down the East coast between Maine and up into Canada. They have their own language, tactical strategies in how they take over a house, look ridiculous and way to clean. I personally didn’t care for it but I could see others really liking it because it does go way over the top at some points. The film also tries to make the comparison between the tribe and how evil some modern, civilized people can be. From what I’ve read about the sequel “The Woman”, this attempt goes even further.

The storyline is minimal. The family of cannibals have returned to a small coastal town known as Dead River. The town’s former sheriff thought he had killed them ten years earlier, but after a gruesome murder scene is discovered, he joins the current police department in their search for the murders. The tribe it seems is looking for babies (for sacrifice?) as well as eating whoever they find. They attack a house where a family lives and who currently has visitors. The husband is killed, the woman are taken to the cave and beaten, and a twelve year old boy hides his baby sibling in a tree house and follows the tribe to their cave. The sheriff finds the boy who points out the cave, goes in and kills a few before being stabbed in the chest and dying. The women escape, there is a final fight between the boy and a tribal child, and the leader of the tribe, the mother, escapes only to be stabbed by the only other survivor of her clan. She kills him and wanders off into the woods. The end. Thank god.

Wrong Turn (2003)

“Wrong Turn” is your average, mainstream horror flick filled with a cast of pretty people and a storyline that has a few thrills but nothing that really stands out. What it does show, with newspaper clippings and medical reports during the opening sequence, is how the inbred hillbillies of West Virginia have increased strength and a high resistance to pain. They also indicate that numerous people are reported missing every year in that area. Like other cannibal movies, it’s a family that is performing these dastardly deeds. And like other movies I’ve noticed, they like to leave a dead body lying around with a leg missing. Why?

Chris is on his way to a very important job interview but he’s running late. To bypass a messy accident on the highway, he takes the back road but ends up hitting another vehicle that was stop in the middle of the road. Everyone is ok but is quickly creeped out when they find a barbed wire tire trap that was laid out and ruined the tires of the first vehicle. The group of six breaks up; four walking around looking for a phone while two stay with the broken cars. The two quickly get killed (surprise!) by the cannibalistic hillbillies while the other four find the hillbillies house. There are piles of sunglasses, cell phones, watches, and other items collected by their victims over the years. The three hillbilly brothers come home, the four hide and hear/watch their dead friends get hacked up. Hacking up bodies is tiring, so when the hillbillies take a nap, the four survivors escape from the house. The rest of the movie is about the hillbillies chasing and sometimes killing the four remaining survivors. Of course Eliza Dushku makes it to the end, but that isn’t revealing much.

Dying Breed (2008)

“Dying Breed” blends two real life events into one storyline that is both entertaining and gruesome. The main source of inspiration comes from Alexander Pierce, a convict that escaped multiple times from Tasmanian penal camps and hid out in the bush. While on the run, he and his fellow escapees turned to cannibalism to survive before they were finally caught and hung. The movie claims that he started the small township named “Sarah” and that his decedents live there and also practice the tradition of cannibalism. The second event that the film focuses on is the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger and the various claims people make at seeing one alive. This is what brings the unfortunate zoologist and her friends to “Sarah” and the surrounding wilderness. “Dying Breed” is part of the After Dark Horrorfest Season 3 and features Leigh Whannell (writer of “Saw”) and Nathan Phillips (“Wolf Creek”).

Nina’s older sister went to Tasmania to study and to find a living Tasmanian Tiger but eventually ends up drowning. Eight years later Nina follows in her sister’s footsteps to complete her work. With the help of her friend Matt, the trip into the wilderness is made possible by Jack and his girlfriend Rebecca. They make their way to the isolated town called “Sarah” where they find the locals odd and different. One even points out a pair of shackles and says that those belonged to his great grandfather who founded the town. The four leave early the next morning and travel down the river by boat before landing and hiking for several miles. They find a small cave and camp inside, waking up in the middle of the night and believing that they see a Tasmanian Tiger in the distance. As they grab their cameras, and Jack grabs his crossbow, they make the fatal horror movie flaw of splitting up and that’s when the action really begins.

Favorite moment – The scene where Matt and Jack find Rebecca’s body and how, in his traumatic pacing, Jack falls onto two large man-traps, once snapping onto his legs and the other onto his head. The pacing and visuals are perfect for this intense moment and is acted out extremely well.

Ravenous (1999)

“Ravenous” is one of my all-time favorite movies ever; it’s the perfect film to have playing in the background while you’re busy or to totally grab your attention and holds you from beginning to end. I love how this movie incorporates the Wendigo legend that is shared among various Native American tribes, the time period in which it takes place, and the background music. I love the music! There are some great choices in the casting and the ending is an awesome test of endurance. The plot was inspired by real life events and people such as the Donner Party and Alfred Packer.

While fighting in the Mexican-American War, Second Lieutenant Boyd becomes traumatized during the heat of battle and pretends to be a dead body. He is buried under a pile of actual dead bodies and ends up ingesting a fair amount of blood. He eventually regains his resolve, as well as a new found strength and stamina, and is able to overtake the enemy post. He is promoted to Captain but reassigned (exiled) to a far off post at Fort Spencer because his commanding officer finds his version of how he won the enemy post suspicious. At Fort Spencer, Capt. Boyd meets the small detachment that is keep there during the winter months. A short time after his arrival, a strange man named Calqhoun shows up, telling the soldiers that he was part of a wagon train that had met dire circumstances. Half of the detachment goes with Colqhoun to rescue the survivors of the wagon train from Colonel Ives, a man who was leading the train but had turned to cannibalism when they became lost. It turns out to be a trap as Calqhoun is Colonel Ives and he is quickly able to kill off the rescue party. Capt. Boyd decides to jump off a cliff rather than face Calqhoun in a fight. He survives the fall but breaks his leg, landing near the dead body of a fellow solider. He ends up eating the soldier after several days and begins to heal. When he arrives back at Fort Spencer, he discovers that Colonel Ives has been assigned as the commanding officer until the spring. Boyd and Ives begin to play a cat and mouse game of wits, with Ives clearly in the role of the cat.

Favorite moment – I really love the scene when the rescue party arrives at the cave where Calqhoun claims the wagon party is hiding in. Calqhoun acts so strangely and leaves the viewer wondering what the hell is he doing. Then when he starts killing the soldiers, his actions are so fluid and precise and the gleam of insanity and joy in his eyes is priceless!

We Are What We Are (2010)

What would happen if a family of cannibals lost the sole provider of fresh flesh? That is the question that “We Are What We Are” examines. This Mexican film is about a standard family, a father, a mother, two sons and a daughter, who need a fresh body so they can complete a ritual before its too late. Father has been the one responsible for obtaining the bodies in the past but he dies in the beginning of the story, leaving his eldest son with this gruesome task. His younger brother tries to help but ends up challenging all of his decisions. The mother doesn’t have faith in him while the sister has nothing but faith and hope. He tries to make his family proud but a hooker is isn’t worthy and so the search continues. By the time someone worthwhile is found, the police have caught on to what’s going on and interrupts the ritual. Only one family member survives with the sole intent on finishing the ritual…whatever that might be.

Favorite moment – I have never been as delighted to discover such a rare and wonderful moment as this! There is a scene in a morgue where the corner is preparing the corpse while the funeral director watches. It took me only three seconds before I realized that I’ve seen this seen before, with the same actors repeating the same dialogue! I researched the actors and found out that they are indeed the same people who were in the same type of scene in Del Toro’s “Cronos”, another Mexican film from 1993. What a perfect tribute as well as a plot device for this movie as well!!

Frontier(s) (2007)

“Frontier(s)” is a French movie that doesn’t really know what it wants to be. It’s a horror movie at least but the  focus of the film keeps changing. First violent mobs and riots are causing trouble all around Paris because of election results. The police are being overwhelmed and martial law and curfews come into effect. But this situation is quickly forgotten as soon as the main characters drive out of the city and onto their way to Amsterdam. The movie then takes on a “Hostel” kind of vibe as the main characters check into a small roadside motel in the country and are seduced by the woman running the front desk. Then the movie switches to cannibalism without directly saying so (hinting that the dinner is cooked in pork fat when asked what it is that they are eating) then onto the bizarre family dynamics and their Nazis-like father then onto the problems of deformed inbred children who are seen munching away on various corpses that are kept in a storage area. The staff of Scarecrow Video in Seattle list this movie as one of the most disturbing films they have in their horror section; it’s good but not nearly as disturbing as “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” , which by the way didn’t even make their list. It’s an interesting movie that just tries to do too much; this is the kind of film to approach with no expectations and simply enjoy the ride.

Favorite moment – When Yesmine kills Goetz, essentially pushing him onto a table saw.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The 1970’s had more than its fair share of cannibal themed movies but the one that stands out for me the most is “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. It’s perfectly creepy with the soundtrack, grainy film quality, and bizarre cast of characters...and I’m talking about the ones you see before you even get to Leatherface. Even though he became a major franchise onto himself, I strongly feel that “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” should have been a single, stand-alone film. It doesn’t need to answer the questions that might linger after the end credits begin rolling. Do you really need to know who Leatherface is or what he looks like under his creepy mask? No. Do you really need to know if the family ever gets caught or how long they’ve been robbing graves? No. Just knowing what you see is enough.

As the opening describes, this is a story about five young adults who get caught up in something gruesome and terrifying. They drive out to check out a graveyard that has been having problems with grave robbers. Two siblings have a grandfather buried there and they want to make sure that his grave wasn’t disturbed. Afterwards they decide to check out an old family house that their father grew up in. On the way to the house they pick up a hitchhiker who quickly runs out his welcome when he begins to start a fire and cutting one of the teens; they kick him out and continue on their way. Once at the house, they begin to split up and eventually find their way to the neighbors’ house. No one seems to be home but they go in anyway only to be killed off by Leatherface. When Sally and her brother go looking for the other three in the evening, they are attacked Sally’s brother is killed. She is runs throughout the house being chased by Leatherface, finally making it to a gas station where she is tied up by another member of Leatherface’s family (brother or dad). Sally wakes up and finds that she is surrounded by Leatherface, the gas station guy, the hitchhiker, and Grandpa. They try having Grandpa kill her but she manages to get away and after an almost comical chase, Sally rides away in the back of a pickup truck and Leatherface revs his chainsaw in the soft sunlight of the morning.

Favorite moment – I honestly love the moment when Leatherface hits Kirk in the back of the head with a mallet, drags his body into the alcove, and slams the metal shutters closed. What the hell kind of noise was he making???