Butterfly Effect 3 (2009)

Time traveling isn't for winners

A man looks on as an observer in the distance as a woman is savagely murdered near a playground area that she took her boy to. He's transported back to present time in an icy bathtub with the help of his sister Jenna. Currently Sam is commissioned by the police department as a resident "psychic" that gives them accurate information that catches their guy to give the family closure. Everything is going fine until the sister of a woman named Rebecca Brown, the first girl he fell for, came by Sam with evidence in a diary that a man the sister was cheating on Sam with named Lonnie, who went to prison for her murder and has an upcoming execution, didn't actually kill her. Sounds simple: go back in time, stop the killer or just observe and get the charges lifted. Except there are consequential rules in place: never alter your own past or go unsupervised. One small misstep happens and he's already changed the past and created a murderer called the Pontiac Killer that he has to stop but keeps getting knocked back by random circumstance, not to mention the police who are now looking at him as a suspect the more he gets closer. He attempts to go to his sister and physics friend Goldburg for advice but they don't want him to get hurt or alter what already is despite his good intentions. Sam goes on his own through a series of trial and error that leads to frustration and confusion from overlapping events. He's digging a hole that keeps getting deeper and deeper and it becomes uncertain if he can ever can totally fix things and get out.

The story unfolds like a choose-a-new-path tale. The non-linear story mode keeps things intriguing and interesting to where it will go next. This causes some of the performers to change around their demeanor for their new time line. There are some built up dramatic moments, though with the pacing, this keeps itself on the move; luckily to its benefit since there are a few areas that if slowed down would have made the tumblers in your head start to work and question some of the inconsistencies and transitions from point A to B. The movie is somewhat shallow at points with drug use, pointless sex and over-the-top murders that you could care less about the victim at hand, though it's still steadily amusing nonetheless in a low-brow type of way. It's not a smart time travel film that goes on about analytical theory but as a thriller it goes into a number of different directions so as to keep your attention for what new twist of fate will occur. The big twist is somewhat obvious from being given too many clues too early on. The film plays on sensations, so the tone can be both grisly and then light in humor at other times to still keep it fun and not totally lurk in the horror realm. This deals with regret, sacrifice as well as letting go to give it a nice wrap up that probably won't stick with you. Although, the experience in the meantime goes by so succinctly that it's a simple and painless but still entertaining movie on the fly for those nothing-to-do, do-the-thinking-for-me days.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Seth Grossman (The Elephant King)
Stars: Chris Carmack, Rachel Miner, Kevin Yon
Link: IMDB

From Within (2008)

Smalltown Hypocrisy, USA

"From Within" is a drama/thriller with elements of horror and the supernatural that includes religion, intolerance and stubbornness in an area called Grovetown that's full of small town views and a local legend that's on the hush hush. A teenager that looks like a goth reads from a book in an odd tongue while sitting next to his girlfriend. He pulls out a revolver as casually as if it's a picnic basket and shoots himself with the horrified girlfriend as a witness. She runs into town a bloody mess as if being chased from something and dies by her own hand as well. From then on out, each unlucky person who was the last to see the person commit the act or their body dies.

The perspective of the small town is shown through another teenage girl named Lindsay who goes to the local high school as well as attends the local church and likes the minister's son at both places named Dylan. Rumors spread about the connection to it all and blinded tempers and closed-minded fears come out. Dylan gets into a fight with a soft spoken kid named Aiden, who's not a member of the church and the brother of the first teen to commit suicide. Lindsay drives him home and there it comes out about Aiden's mother dying in a suspicious fire out back from a fear that she was a witch. Ominous threats are in the air as if a battle is about to ensue with opposing religious beliefs. The local Sheriff sweeps speculation under the rug which causes Lindsay to meddle before anything drastic breaks out. As the suicides begin to pile up, the minister's son holds some clout over the town and takes matters into his own hands with Lindsay caught in the middle between Dylan and Aiden.

"From Within" offers a series of intermittent, sudden scares mixed with the main body of a small town drama that reveals some skeletons in its closet. Some of the pop outs seem too in your face with crisp effects that have tendency to be caught in the frame for too long, leaving out anticipation or mystery as to what it is or how it came to be. On the one hand, it's not going to be as enigmatic as "The Broken" was but parts of it feel too simplified nonetheless. Some of the deaths start to seem less and less random as they so happen to coincide and are spaced out with current events. It takes away from the it-could-happen-to-you-at-anytime nervousness. Though in some areas right before the person is going to get it, it does play on the something-lurking-over-your-shoulder angle with the audience being a witness but helpless to the fact. The one by one death sentences almost seem like something out of "Final Destination" though somewhat less elaborate. Some people go quickly, while others at a later time when convenient to the narrative.

The subtext here concerns religious hypocrisy on both sides that are using it with their own interpretations or how they deem fit for personal gain. There's also intolerance and stubbornness even when faced with some facts. If there was ever going to be an exceptional example of the mentioned, Grovetown is that place. No one is all the way in the right here and that sentiment comes without resolve and a bleak conclusion that it got so out of hand. This is redneck stuff we're dealing with so guns, pick up trucks and beer play a role when it comes to accelerating action. Some of the personalities are caricatures that make the story a little black and white and somewhat easily deciphered. It makes you wonder if the filmmakers didn't think the audience would get the point, hence the obviousness and exaggeration at points. Elizabeth Rice as Lindsay sticks out with a decent portrayal and a share of emotions across the board to feel for her character's actions. Thomas Dekker as Aidan and Kelly Blatz as Dylan get a little more range than the supporting cast but still play their parts with only a few steps outside the box, so essentially you can count on their next moves, which takes away from surprises. This is a little more catered for the late teens crowd, though overall this was a decent enough experience with an actual story and message to share for the experience.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Phedon Papamichael (Dark Side of Genius)
Stars: Elizabeth Rice, Thomas Dekker, Kelly Blatz, Adam Goldberg
Link: IMDB

Perkins' 14 (2009)

Giving some more rest for the wicked

This is a film that turns the tables around with an over-the-top revenge plot for the villain, except the large majority of the perspective is focused on the side of a small group of innocent characters. Essentially the tone of the picture is not necessarily going to show progress as it builds, as its steps leading up are going to crumble and the atmosphere is to turn bleak with less and less light at the end to reach for. If that gives you an idea of where this is going and how every other horror film in the last bunch of years has decided to wrap up its finale similarly, then "Perkins' 14" is going to be a film for the people who watch the credits with depression or a momentary scare that lasts about as long as your emotions might turn into feeling duped.

A deputy for the Sheriff's department named Dwayne Hopper had a son that was abducted 10 years ago along with 13 others in Stone Cove, Maine with the perpetrator never being caught. He greets his wife and daughter goodbye before heading out to what he thinks is just another day of work, except this one is going to be different, much, much different. A man is in lock up by the name of Ronald Perkins that has a few clues that match up to the prior disappearance cases. He does some fact checking on Perkins' story and it doesn't add up, though he's been so obsessed about it that no one wants to listen anymore. Perkins is a friend of the town judge and he's to be let out immediately despite his protests. Before doing so, he has the other off duty deputy check his place of residence only to find a secret passage in his basement and accidentally cause the violent and blood thirsty inhabitants to escape onto the town. Hopper goes to save his daughter and wife and meets his son Kyle who's now an unreasoning killing machine made that way--the film only hints at how that's possible--by Perkins due to his own parents getting killed and wanting revenge on Stone Cove.

This frequently plays on the dramatic with a father who doesn't want to let go, as if it happened just yesterday, so there are going to be a number of flashbacks to show how his life got ripped in two. This definitely works in the beginning by establishing some emotional attachment to their situation. Though when the action starts to heat up, the film jumps in and out of pushing the pacing forward. Instead of a continual charge of a survival film, it plays more on the melodramatic with the characters fumbling around and feeling bad for themselves. This uses part of the basic formula where creatures are attempting to overrun an area and it's up to a certain group of individuals to get out or take care of the problem--except here it's not always capitalized on. It also becomes disappointing that the rest of the town's people aren't focused on but that you're stuck with this dedicated and sympathetic but ultimately inept family.

This uses a little more drama to escalate the emotions of the story instead of going in cold and calculated or half-cocked to take care of the problem. The issue is the characters are possibly too real and less cinematic to make this exceptional case gripping. I mean, if you have part of the solution a suspension of disbelief--victims turned killing machines--why not exaggerate the other portion as well? They make one long series of bad choices and it can make one less likely to go with the flow than to yell at the screen to do something right. This ends with nothing to show for itself, which in this case pulls down the rest of the picture with so much investment in the wrong areas, leaving relating points or even a cold, hard message from achieving impact. To me taking a worthwhile risk that holds up even on repeat viewings would be doing something bold that everyone's aware but don't have the audacity to do. I see this less as being brave from taking a risk than a film with no constructive ideas in mind at that point to close on. The premise is no doubt thought through from an idea that was voted on from an online site contest to make into a horror movie. Though another scriptwriter took over and had to do the job in a speedy fashion due to the next After Dark Fest coming up and that shows in areas.

Some of the filmmaking mechanics aren't perfect with some overextended scenes and not always the best camera angles, though this does include some areas that are able to create some mood and showcase the settings. The lighting is somewhat dark in areas, along with a strobe light effect and a shaky camera to make things somewhat jarrig to what's going on. There are some pretty gory scenes in the meantime to showoff the 14's superhuman strength and indestructible nature when getting attacked themselves. If the film was going to be about them, as the title suggests, it would have been a nice touch to get more inside their head, possibly show variety between them or show more of Perkins' interactions with them. If it's going to be a diabolical and evil film, then do so, instead of playing coy and then deciding at the last moment to do so. Otherwise that can bring down the respect and potential involvement/investment as a viewer. The premise is quite over-the-top to say the least, though the players do take it seriously and it gives it some potential even if a share of it was undeveloped and somewhat rushed.

Rating: 3.5/10

Director: Craig Singer (A Good Night to Die, Dark Ride)
Stars: Patrick O' Kane, Richard Brake, Shayla Beesley, Mihaela Mihut
Link: IMDB, original web video of Perkins' 14 by Jeremy Donaldson

Dying Breed (2008)

Fact and fiction collide in the backwoods of Australia

This is mostly a formulaic retelling of the backwoods horror film subgenre, though it still comes with some added differences. "Dying Breed" is not trying to be a monumental film or strictly fit in, but include a few tweaks to an already established template. It has the usual amount of taboo breakers such as cannibalism and inbreeding but it plays out as a more gradual and less in your face film compared to others that have amped up the level of atrocities since "Deliverance" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with some real life legends to make it come more to life...or death however you want to look at it because usually these films come with stacks of fresh corpses.

A prisoner named Alexander Pearce escaped back in the 1800s in Tasmania, Australia. A group of four are trekking out in the wilds to this region in present day to search out the thought to be extinct Tasmanian Tiger--a carnivorous dog/wolf/marsupial hybred with strips on its back resembling a tiger--that hasn't been officially documented in 100 years. A woman on the trip named Nina (Mirrah Foulkes) had a sister that incurred an accident years earlier and she wants to pick up her research where she left off. Her boyfriend Matt (Leigh Whannell) scored a favor from a wild and prankster friend Jack (Nathan Phillips) who also brought along his girlfriend Rebecca (Melanie Vallejo) for the experience. The level of tourism in the area is sparse and the group soon finds some trouble from the male dominated locals with damaged property and snooping eyes.


The next day they head deeper and decide to stay in a cave for the night. At one point they think they spot a Tiger and immediately things turn for the worst when one of them gets attacked and they try and search that person out but get separated. A little girl they encountered back where the locals live suddenly appears along with two other men looking for her with a revelation about Nina's deceased sister. This doesn't play on the usual terrors at first, but instead goes for some mistrust of others and uncomfortableness since they're dealing with strange people in an unfamiliar setting. It plays on an anxiety angle of surviving a set of dire circumstances instead of charging forward with a pounding chest. The issue is you're not always given substantial amounts of scares, action or a lot of collective information to go on at a time since this is aiming more towards being a subtle film. It unfolds in the moment by moment as if it's leading up to something but then that something doesn't fully culminate into making everything you just seen entirely worthwhile since it's partly obvious by the time it gets there. It does have areas that are stretching it but by including that added bit of measurement it attempts to give some authenticity to its plot. That works towards it and also somewhat holds it back. More often than not they strike a balance with some built up anticipation and a level of being trapped by both nature and man by doing all you can to get out.

All and all there are a few twists and turns to surprise or mess with the audience and some stand out scenes to remember for the experience. Though it could have used more of them to truly clench the total package instead of playing it safe on the formula in some areas. There are some jokes, seriousness and caring tones among the roles to give some divided personality. The performances held their own and filled out their respective parts with separation of character. Some parts include charisma without being distracting or over doing it, while others feel like caricatures of their type, such as Jack being the loud and macho kind each time and the boyfriend Matt being the sympathetic crutch for the duration of the film. There isn't much on growth with the characters, as they go in one way, use what they have and remain in that state. This does well with a share of showing rather than telling of its storyline, which steers it away from potential cringe worthy one liners that are usually for the audience's sake but can take one out of the experience. This is still more towards being a tasteful film with the subject matter at hand. The gory scenes aren't always over-the-top but more for necessary shock value, which can leave this somewhat tame for some ravenous gore hounds but still possess terror for the general viewer who's not accustomed to their fellow man being turned inside out.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Jody Dwyer
Stars: Leigh Whannell, Mirrah, Foulkes, Nathan Phillips, Melanie Vallejo
Link: IMDB

Slaughter (2009)

Two young women finding themselves on a farm--not what you think

This somewhat misleading title of a movie--that should have been called something like "The Back Room" or "Scarred Life" or anything else--was marketed with the other After Dark Fest features that are typically horror films. However, this is a more tame feature that plays out more as a simple drama at first with the everyday problems of family, friendship and relationships, turns over to a possible crime story, then for the last third it steps up with more suspense and thrills than it lets on to be with a nicely timed twist where the tables get turned.

"Slaughter" starts out with a bound woman being dragged to a dock, only to be pushed into the water and a cinder block to make sure she stays down. In Atlanta, a woman named Faith is running away from boyfriend trouble when she by chance meets the loose and lively woman named Lola in a night club. They connect right away and Faith decides to move to Lola's family's pig farm for work as her controlling ex-boyfriend Jimmy is getting closer and closer to finding her. Lola and Faith return to the clubs at night and usually Lola comes home with a new man who's along the lines of a sugar daddy. The older brother is somewhat cruel and the all-blinds, no-words father is put off by the daughter with distasteful looks, not to mention they don't seem to like their new guest hanging about. Faith looks out for her friend and suspects something is going on in the slaughterhouse that's closed off to her when the men disappear by the morning time.

The mystery element is partly obvious from the title and opening scene, though the reason why and full scope is eluded to. The clues in the meantime aren't exactly Sherlock Holmes type material with some filler bread crumbs with a wrist watch here and a set of keys there. Faith's character also seems to be generally suspicious without the script always giving her a really solid reason to be so. She often heads in the right direction as if she has some kind of hidden instinct that we don't know about. There aren't always enough clues given out to nail you to the seat of what's going on behind the scenes, though the story isn't always sensationalized with excessive blood and there's no nudity. The finale is somewhat manipulative when the tables keep getting turned, though it's also somewhat depressing and sad that its cold conclusion was inevitable. This doesn't always wander into the exaggerated, over-the-top cinematic experience with loud and overly stylish filmmaking mechanics, as this attempts to go for some realism with its scenarios and character motivations--even if some are far-fetched it makes it easier to accept them. I originally thought this was going one way, helped by the "Texas Chainsaw" homages--camera flash sound effect and all--and it ended up being more a red herring in a way to something else. It's building up to something unexpected that involves all characters shown and has a story to unravel and finalize than going for shock value alone.

The performances seem to come into themselves, by at first coming across as a little stale, probably more so at what they have to work with in the drama department, but as it progresses the two leading women reveal a little more depth about themselves. The supporting cast comes across more for script development and to pad this with more bodies; like a game of chess with only two pieces doing the main work but the rest filling out the board. The boyfriend Jimmy seemed the pawn of the roles with less authentic power. The youngest brother had a form of charisma and represented some innocence amongst the darker aspects. In case you're thinking it, the premise might at first glance seem like something out of a softcore film with two highly attractive women at an isolated farm finding out who they are in life with some experimenting going on. Settle down, settle down. It dodges eroticism with a cold dash, but still plays on moralless sex and violence as if they're implicitly linked. Should you be able to freely let yourself indulge without problems from family, friends or even yourself? Even on a personal level emotions usually follow and some people either move on before that happens and while the enjoyment lasts, or possibly get their feelings hurt in the meantime, while others are at it for different reasons than the mentioned

Rating: 6/10

Director: Steward Hopewell (Going to Pieces - second unit director)
Stars: Amy Shiels, Lucy Holt
Link: IMDB

Autopsy (2008)

A hospital where the doors don't revolve

A group of 20-somethings--two gals, three guys--are reveling on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. They decide to drive back in their present state and not surprisingly crash into a tree "somewhere in Louisiana." Before the audience can say it, "Does anyone have a working phone?" "It doesn't matter. There's no signal." The budget shows with more pictures of their partying and only the after effects of the crash, rather than the actual impact. Somehow a man in a hospital gown is found underneath of their car. Out of nowhere an ambulance arrives moments later to take him away with a story that he escaped after surgery. They go along for possible aide themselves at the local facility called Mercy Hospital. There it plays on reassurances that it will all be okay, but soon turns from suspicious to then a means of survival because, that's right, this ain't gonna be a normal hospital folks.

The staff consists of four members--a nurse, two orderlies and a doctor--and they treat the newly arrived with stern attitude to distract them. It goes to show how far authority figures are trusted and can carry a command when a uniform is put on. No one's allowed to roam about or see a patient at the same time they're being examined, which leads to them becoming worried that something isn't right. One by one they're taken in and disappear to different rooms that reveal experiments and odd procedures. One of the woman named Emily, with a coincidental medical background and a questioning mind, sets about to find some answers to where her friends are and stumbles onto something that's inherent to mad science.

This is a horror story with people using medicine for evil and manipulative purposes, except they don't even try to make this a real possibility to put some paranoia into you when traveling about, or even a truly unique situation for that matter. New Orleans--might as well have been herd farmers and a shack in Mongolia. The innocent characters are thrust into "some" place, with "some" random people who all share the "same" morbid disposition. It also includes the same ol' characters that represent a body count or have to survive from some horrible and unexplainable situation they've found themselves in, except with some kind of cheap twist that momentarily changes the convention around but makes even less sense as the rest of the story. The experience just unfolds so middle of the road without even a steady subtext that it causes itself to drag its feet along rather than be on top of itself.

"Autopsy" is quite an easy film to the point--I'd imagine to a share of people--of not holding up past the first viewing. Not to mention this attempts to take itself more seriously instead of sustaining the tongue-in-cheek humor for the far-fetched and ridiculous storyline they're working with. There are a few jokes here and there but it's not to the point of making anyone roll on their side anytime soon or in the way of performing miraculous CPR to revive the picture (sorry, had to). How the story itself unfolds feels a little too hokey and over-the-top in a forced way. The out-of-reach location and overly sadistic villains that enjoy what they do a little too much makes it feel less likely to happen to you than getting struck by lightning. If this is fun, it's in the context of solely making fun of it. What they don't show you brings down the credibility of the story, such as the hospital having full use of utilities. Not to mention some of the motivations seem exaggerated to the point of not adding up, such as being on a hallucinogenic drug, unconsciously performing self-mutilation and then in the next scene being able to speak lucidly and with reason.


Its moments of scares feel somewhat forced with lightning and rain and random people popping in and out of rooms with a loud sound effect to jar senses. There are some rewarding moments where the bad guys get it in just as cruel ways as they dealt out originally. It's not exactly challenging stuff with a black and white template that makes answers--such as necessary violence to protect yourself and friends--easier to solve and digest. Some of the gore effects are a little on the cheaper side at points with some exposed guts coming out of stiff looking surrounding skin. Though there are some effectively grisly moments that range from amputation to a face caved in from blunt force. At one point towards the end there is an inventively maniacal contraption that consists of stringed together body parts.


The lead actress, Jessica Lowndes, is somewhat versatile in that she can be both tough, emotionally sympathetic and astute in character. She definitely takes it all out at points and goes beyond what was called for than treating this as a mere stepping stone, which makes it such a shame that her glowing talent was wasted on the overall turnout. Robert LaSardo takes his lines with a little more measurement, though the other bad guys, even the recognizable Robert Patrick as the head doctor, lack any kind of range to work with. Even "The Dentist" had a kind of philosophy, this just has card-board cut outs of evil medical professionals that do look the part but are only out to get people for some diabolical plan that's not even fully fleshed out. It closes with some questions of morality in which someone innocent who should have died is now living, but at the expense of others. Though quickly reverses its stance to give a little ambiguous shock value that seemed thrown in as an after thought.

Rating: 3/10

Director: Adam Gierasch (writer "Toolbox Murders," "Mortuary," "Mother of Tears")
Stars: Jessica Lowndes, Robert Patrick, Robert LaSardo
Link: IMDB

The Broken (2008)

Scared of your own reflection?

An English radiologist named Gina gives her father a surprise birthday celebration and during the festivities a mirror suddenly breaks. She gets a strange feeling at work as if someone was in her office. Then on the way home, she spots a woman that looks identical to herself driving her same car. She follows the look alike and enters her apartment only to see a photo with her image and her fathers. Puzzled, she leaves but gets into a car wreck on the way out. Gina wakes up in the hospital with a fuzzy memory regarding the crash and a sneaking suspicion that her boyfriend, Stefan, is not really her boyfriend. The doctors call it Capgras Syndrome, which can result from a brain injury. With the help of a therapist, she unlocks bits and pieces surrounding the accident. From a dripping ceiling, to more mirrors being broken and others acting strangely to her, Gina sees danger at every turn where more people are out to get her due to a delusion made worse by the crash or something else.

"The Broken" is mainly a mystery/suspense film that for a share of it does the genre justice with little nuances and slight shifts that make those films so gripping. Revelations come about as it gradually paces itself and the audience is let on to more and more of its secrets. Unfortunately the growth of the plant slows down and it eventually squeezes less and less of the nectar out of its storyline. After a certain point it goes from a kind of Hitchcock-esque pacing to a sort of extended Twilight Zone-like episode that pulls out a magnifying glass and inspects a tainted situation underneath everyone else's nose. Its drawback is that it's too light on some of the rules and mechanics and then motivations for its antagonists, which makes it more easy than encapsulating the full potential that it could have been. It had every right to be a thoroughly challenging classic but didn't take it that extra few steps. I liked the engaging experience it laid out but the more it's thought about, the more it comes with contradictions.

If one can look past that, the film's major strength is getting full use of its surroundings with an atmosphere to lock a viewer into the direct moment. It's not everyday that films can make one forget their surroundings and responsibilities. It's to the point where every other person and object becomes suspicious and paramount as a result. A neat idea is employed with abrupt flashes to remember the past and some surreal imagery to translate Gina's troubled state. This uses basic but still powerful mechanics due to built-up anticipation and careful crafting beforehand, such as deja vu, sleeping next to someone you immensely distrust, being vulnerable in the shower, and also someone you recognize that doesn't act like their old self, making you instead question your own self and mind. Needless to say, this has a share of creepy and unsettling moments, rather than going for the throat with its shock value. It's titillating at points but not always forceful like other horror films.

There's a share of stringed instruments that no sane person could listen to and not tense up. "The Broken" seems to be made to play on nerve endings by not letting the viewer relax for long till another pulsating situation arises. It has that down pat though it could have used a few more areas in its story that hint more at what's going on, especially for motivational reasons, otherwise the viewer is left too much in the dark as to what, how and why after the credits roll. It seems to be a film less for the theorists and more for those that appreciate the ride and surface sensations in the moment. I have to admit, for the most part, it did keep me from thinking outside of the box that it presents when I was actually watching it since there was always something either intriguing or rousing going on. This still works with a shred of ambiguity, but the scales are still tipped a little more away from the viewer. It mainly plays on a general sense of paranoia for those that are broadly suspect, as well as has some calculated areas for the logical minded, even if it doesn't go full steam ahead for the skeptic's sake.

Some parts carry a message of sorts, such as securing and appreciating your life as someone or "something" else might take over when you have your guard down. It's more of an undeveloped "what if?" question that will make some people fascinated just because of the idea itself as well as gravitate towards its heavy use of mood while at it. However, with some others I'd imagine it might leave a person more puzzled or frustrated without fully fleshing out a bigger picture from the questions it posed itself. It's not to the point of ambiguity like "Silent Hill" but should be kept in mind before stepping into its alleyway with dark and looming shadows that you might never figure out what's always a step behind or what they're doing there...

Rating: 7/10

Director: Sean Ellis (Cashback)
Stars: Lena Headey, Richard Jenkins, Melvil Poupaud
Link: IMDB

Voices (2007)

An explanation for why murder/suicides really happen

Have you ever wished someone around you would just die or go away but kept your actions to yourself? Hey, hey, not all at once. Well, getting along with those you normally have to isn't even an option here. One thing that should be learned about the experience is that it isn't very liberating, just a dark and deplorable look at primitive emotions that were thought to be left back in the cavemen days. This is a supernatural horror tale from Korea that centers around a teenage girl where those that get too close try and kill her.

After a horrific opening scene with a family getting mudered, it plays out with some humor and good natured vibes, until a woman named Ji-sun falls off a balcony at her own wedding. If that wasn't enough, when she's in the hospital her sister brutally stabs her to death. There appears to be certain violent tragedies in the family with kin killing kin dating sometime back. Her niece, a teenage girl named Ga-in Kim, is having nightmares about "something" out to get her, which makes her ill. She's in the nurses office when she gets attacked by someone who is jealous about an earlier event. The morose new kid at school gives her advice that it wasn't just an "accident" (must have been a mistranslation to mean "coincidence" instead) and that she shouldn't trust anyone--friends, family and herself included. Soon enough more attacks happen and she tries to piece it together that it may be a curse by asking her auntie and older relative about what's making people out for blood.

Part of the story doesn't transition as smoothly as it could have, that she would just go with it that it is a curse. The people don't always look ghostly and often speak with her during the attacks. Now, from an audience's point of view it may be more effective at making you think back when someone has killed their family or friends that they didn't look any different either. Though from her character's point of view, they're just jealous of her happiness. Possibly Asian culture has a closer acceptance of superstitions, but for some skeptical western audiences there isn't always more of a convincing element to make you cross over with her. The rules of its mythology are spread about, so part of its own mechanics don't always line up about when certain people become violent and when they don't. Or what pulls them out of the trance and what can keep that going for a longer period of time. There are some effective uses of anticipation but this usually jumps right into them to make sure you still have a functioning heart beat. It makes the events happen more at random than the filmmakers intended them to since it tries to do the whole one-by-one format like a slasher and string it along till an ending revelation that might make sense then but not always during.

There's a kind of hidden moral message here with jealousy, rage and hate fermenting inside for those that might have better opportunities than you. It deals with temptations to erase that person from this world that is causing you so much pent up turmoil. Whether you give in or not is possibly an option I'd imagine--at least I'd hope for the sake of the human race--but this keeps it downbeat in that everybody is susceptible to a risk of seeing nothing but red. There are no heroes here and the relating points that you might find to the character's lives are trampled at some point for scares and shock. This is told from Ga-in's perspective, so at certain points the story is heavily elusive--more like a never-ending nightmare than a typical narrative unfolding--and it's hard to make heads or tales for a share of it till the end as a result. The atmosphere is somewhat depressing in that she has to eventually avoid human contact and goes around in a state of confusion.

"Voices" tries to make you lower your guard by showing a scary scene, then a positive one, then back to putting the fear of murder back in you. It delivers a sort of black-and-white, tense-and-relax type of formula that sprinkles some personality and dramatic moments into the characters to make it more impactful when a senseless and unexplainable situation of violence ensues. This mode of filmmaking doesn't always come with a natural tone and flow by at times resembling a template to manipulate the audience into a certain emotion. Part of that keeps this just a cinematic experience than an organically occurring possibility. This is cruel and bloody for the morbid onlookers, and the performances are well-received in either behaving normally or crazed. "Voices" has some neat ideas to work with, they just weren't all told in an appropriate order, and would have made more sense watching this from the ending to the beginning. Sometimes I wonder if surprise endings are worth it, as some filmmakers, western ones too, want to hold on to that twist for dear life, even if it can jeopardize part or all of the rest of the picture.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Ki-hwan Oh (Art of Seduction)
Link: IMDB