In My Sleep (2009)

Sleep kills: trust no one...including yourself

Marcus has a disorder in which he sleep walks and is able to perform different activities--such as getting frisky with different women and dumping them later--but then has no recollection after the fact and usually wakes up naked somewhere else. After regretfully sleeping with Ann--his best friend Justin's wife who is also his boss at the day spa--he sees a doctor who tells him he has a rare condition called parasomnia. The headstrong playboy enrolls in a sex addiction group to calm his pants-open-for-business-24/7 ways but keeps getting distractions from women in the L.A. scene. At his birthday party, with various ladies he can't remember that Justin invited from his address book, he receives an anonymous gift of a knife and a mysterious card. Soon enough he wakes up with bloody hands and that same knife along with the police banging at this door from a 911 hang up call. Justin's wife Ann is dead from stab wounds and all evidence points to him or someone who wants to use or back stab him from screwing them over in the past. And the list is long...

This is more lighter and charismatic than other murder mysterious that travel on the darker side with stern expressions and graver encounters. It's oddly quirky and upbeat with a brand of awkward humor and situations that play it more safe than overly dangerous or gratuitous. It's PG-13, so there's no cursing, nudity and no gore but just blood and suggestion. "In My Sleep" feels like a far-fetched TV pilot with so many various coincidental threads all happening at the same time but the movie has a lot of personality to show for itself in the form of pure entertainment. What helps is there isn't a lot of down time to think if something's exaggerated or not and the gears of the story, editing and direction are usually greased to keep the engine running smoothly.

The emotions and expressions take it more in stride than stepping over to be a straight drama. So while people are getting mishandled and killed, the performers don't always go full fledged, which keeps the pacing lively and moving forward with more to do or say than getting stuck. The main driving point is its mystery element with a series of clues and characters to meet along the way that are kept interesting as well as potential suspects, such as his overly helpful neighbor and a newly met doctor at the meetings. Then there are those that you don't see that might be working in the shadows, along with a past history with the disorder involving nightmarish visions that keep leading to Marcus' late father and off put mother. There are a few overextended scenes, others that overreached and some of the jokes cross the line into sitcom territory without the laugh track. Though there are enough bread crumbs and red herrings tossed about to keep one hungry till the pay off when it all gets unraveled with a few different threads of deceit coming out in the open.

I found this to be an interesting concept, as it's a film--something in the vicinity of "Memento" with memory loss but not as hard edged--where a person can't trust themselves if they'll use others, never mind those around them who they can't trust that will use them back. The tension isn't always palpable and it's an easy popcorn type fare though to its credit it's largely unpredictable and unmuddled. It's not the tightest character study piece but it still comes with some relating aspects to think about with trust and maintaining relationships of friends, family and romance. Not to mention there are plenty of "what would you do if that happened to you?" kind of scenarios that makes this a diverting experience that's definitely worth at least a watch.

Rating: 7/10

Director: Allen Wolf (Harlem Grace)
Stars: Philip Winchester, Tim Draxl, Lacey Spencer, Abigail Spencer, Kelly Overton
Link: IMDB

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

A bank robber has nothing on a gypsy

"The Evil Dead" series filmmakers return with a long awaited horror feature that includes some throwback hints to older, more basic horror/thrillers, though with some modern touches such as frequent use of CGI and the convenience of cell phones. "Drag Me to Hell" still feels its own movie than just a token homage film. It's a PG-13 feature in its theatrical run that dodges sex and gore and replaces it with built up shocks combined with a gross out factor that's enough to make one buy mouth rinse afterwards due to all the nasty things landing in the lead actress's mouth. This skirts the edges of an almost whimsical tone between seriousness and tongue-in-cheek humor similar to Raimi's earlier pictures that makes the atmosphere both fun and frightening. It's nearly popcorn entertainment all the way through except with a few of life's little road blocks to make the story more relating and personable.

Some 40 years ago in California, a Spanish boy stole a necklace from a gypsy and is being followed by a spirit. His parents bring him to a young psychic who gets defeated by what turns out to be a powerful demon. In the present day, a young and upstarting career woman with a tubby, tom boy past now handles loans at a bank and is competing with a co-worker for a higher position. In an attempt to become a go-getter, Christine turns down an extension for an elderly woman with an east European accent named Sylvia Ganush. Ganush is shamed and wants payback in the form of attacking Christine in a woman vs woman parking garage rumble that leaves the younger one laying on the concrete dazed and with a wrecked car to show for it. Soon afterwards Christine feels she is being followed by something unexplainable after some mysterious words were spoken by Ganush over a personal item of hers and she seeks out help in the form of a new age psychic to her practical boyfriend Clay's protests. Christine tries to get her life back in order with Clay now warming up but can't explain the random occurrences that come in the form of hallucinations and haunting nightmares. This is a curse that gradually builds up and torments the person, only to consume their soul unless something is done about it...but at what sacrifice?

"Drag Me to Hell" is a story about the damning of an innocent young woman who has to prove she has spirit in her to stay afloat above the ordeal with the supernatural element as well as with the human interaction in her day to day life. She doesn't exactly deserve it but it goes to show it can happen even to the nicest of us. The message being: once you play with fire, you best be ready to take the heat that follows. This did well by incorporating elements for both the believer and non-believer of the uncanny: coincidence in some areas, to outright show-and-tell in others. The story itself isn't the most original but the experience on the other hand unfolds with a share of memorable and inventive scenarios that are over-the-top enough at times to make this more movie than actuality but still engrossing nonetheless. Some of the moments of seriousness and humor clash at times to be almost cartoonish in contrast, though a large share of this was spot on and managed to still have a sinister atmosphere during certain scenes while at it. Think of something along the lines of "The Frighteners" but still not the exactly the same.


The lead actress, Alison Lohman, manages to keep up with the flow of the script that calls for both the gentle and courageous. Not to mention she also takes a beating in some areas like something you'd see on "Fear Factor." Lorna Raver made the movie as the elderly gypsy villain who you'd rather see hit by a car than help her across the street. The facial expressions she does that contort her already hideous mug gives this film an iconic symbol to remember in the back of your mind. The music unfolds with traditional strings that come with some melancholic melodies mixed with grating high notes to translate the uncomfortable creep-ups and sudden shock. The wind and shadows become another character here the way they animate the walls, floors and ceilings to give that trapped feeling that's at every turn.

Rating: 7.5/10

Director: Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Darkman, Spider-Man)
Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver
Link: IMDB

Rubber (2010)

One tire to rule them all!

This is an ambitious project that could have been one thing but decided to be multiple. It's a film that balances theory and entertainment. The former is going to put some viewer's off, but in both respects it's going to still produce some debate in whether someone thinks it's warranted or too basic and unoriginal. It starts out as a movie within a movie with the "audience" represented by spectators with binoculars and a member of the cast explaining that things in cinema often imitate life by happening for no reason. The irony is that part of what he's saying happened for a reason--yet that's all a matter of perspective, which is supposed to be the film's sublime message since so many other movies spoon feed their viewers. Truth is stranger than fiction, right? Well, maybe not so much here.

"Rubber" isn't a health conscious XXX film but rather a picture about a possessed tire that plays out like a dryly humorous horror tale with a slice of adventure. It's almost as if it was penned by another pseudonym of Stephen King with inanimate objects that move about and have psychic powers. Like King, the mundane is taken with a bit of refined thought with its own rules and special powers. The funniest aspect is it has actual character development before it sees the world despite being a basic, ordinary tire in look. It rises from the sand strewn landscape and rolls about with a curious mind of its own. Like a serial killer, it graduates up to greater threats, such as a crushed water bottle, leading to a dead scorpion, leading to a beer bottle destroyed by supernatural powers. It roams about and gets tired just like the rest of us. Our stock spectators are periodically shown with comments and complaints about what's going on as well as puns to other films.

If anything can be learned about what not to do in possession films, it's "Maximum Overdrive," with some lame excuse for what's going on and the laziest scientific reasoning behind it as if its research dodged the library and went on pure speculation. "Rubber" doesn't explain how or where it came from, but it still has plenty of basic motivations and behaviors outlined, such as forming a love interest with a young brunette, watching TV, strolling about and indiscriminately exploding peoples' heads like "Scanners" gone wild. It's such an odd premise that any context it finds itself in seems to be humorous. It's almost cartoonish at points, which makes me believe this could have been a hit series on Cartoon Network for adults with short episodes to keep the novelty going. That's probably another reason for including other aspects here since its gimmick might have worn thin otherwise. The film spends a share of time on its aesthetics with style and mood. Its lead, even though it's supposed to be an inanimate object, ends up being this oddly cool antihero with his certain ways, a distinctive roll (gait) and hip music to follow.

There are a share of shots of the surroundings to development an atmosphere. The camera angles are often very explicit about what they want you to focus on, and if you don't you'll often see a blurry background like taking off your glasses in a 3D film. It takes awhile to get used to as something can be framed up in the center yet what's around it is clear instead. It plays on some horror jokes with close-up creeping shots almost out of "Jaws," as well as a young kid that no adult believes. This is a little too unhurried at points with not much in the way of significance going on at points but it does leave some room to think about what you're viewing and also to maintain a level of intrigue to see what happens next. It plays around a little too long with its concept by showing misadventures rather than a narrative story. That seems to simultaneously help it and hold it back when not much is going on but just giving a presence or aura. Like you're just hangin' loose with it.

"Rubber" has a lot of potential and produces some fun times. The biggest let down is how its replay value becomes diminished when it tries to move from being an odd genre mesh that's off on its own, to giving a message heavy satire on Hollywood films while using an absurd plot and easy time to make you go along with that notion. It's riding a fine line between poking fun and having an ulterior motive. It's odd considering that if you caught it, you're already capable of thinking on your own anyway. So why the reminder and pat on the back? Not to mention each time you put this on you might be reminded and if something miraculously does a turn around over there in Tinseltown, this will look short sighted. If you didn't, then hopefully you at least had an amusing time and were able to interpret it in your own way. It's a film that doesn't worry about its critiques. That prior mentioned aspect might have bothered myself. Though others might be put off by its areas of contradictions in plot or ideology, slowness or lack of hitting your particular funny bone. And guess what? All of those people would be right in a way, because it's a certain type of film that takes a certain type of person to appreciate it. Then on the other hand, it takes a certain type of person to hate it as well. What's interesting here is that they equally balanced both their adorers and disqualifiers in the same film. Most movies do that by accident, though this is going to be a lot more self-aware, which even that itself can make one put up crossed arms.

One could say the film does the same things that it points out other movies as not doing, which makes it okay, right? I guess that will be up to you. "Rubber" often plays both sides of the fence and you can't always tell what side it's really on. Possibly neither; possibly both equally; possibly one side and using the other as a guise. It exercises with contradiction and its diet consists of irony. It can have both a reason and not a reason for doing something. It can be both artful and fluff. Exciting and dull. Original and unoriginal. Pretentious and simple. I have to say it was a neat idea with its share of ambitions with a goal in mind to set up a kind of ambiguity. To do that it often spoke its limitations through its mock spectators, even if that self-degradation doesn't exactly excuse everything, but it still leaves enough lingering about to have an amusing time during and then a productive discussion/debate afterwards.

Rating: 7/10

Director: Quentin Dupieux (Steak)
Stars: Stephen Spinella, Wings Hauser, Roxane Mesquida
Link: IMDB

Ravenous (1999)

When your dinner walks, talks and breathes

The studio didn't give this the promotion it deserved back in the day. I remember seeing a preview early on by my guess to test the waters, but then some time later this passed by theaters without even warming the seats. Needless to say I caught this on a rental, and thought it was an effective film that got lost in the shuffle due to not having an established movement to back it up. It also might be that it didn't come with powerful filmmaking names. This was only the second film made in the US by the director--who had to take over after another dropped out--apart from a dominating list of TV projects in the UK. It also comes from a first time scriptwriter. The lead, Guy Pearce, didn't have impacting star power at that point for American audiences. Then it was shot in Europe about a time period in the U.S. that usually comes as either a western, adventure or period drama. It seemed like people--promoters included--weren't taking a chance with this irregular film at first. Though what makes "Ravenous" worthwhile after the fact, is it wasn't trying to fit into horror or even the time period it focused on. It was a somewhat unique film that dodged what you'd expect.

A Lieutenant named John Boyd (Guy Pearce) during the Mexican-American War in the 1840s pretends to be a goner while his men are dying left and right. Despite at first being a traitor, something awakes in him when he gets the taste of blood and he gets the courage to capture the enemy command. He's promoted to Captain but his superior is still disgusted at his initial cowardice and sends him to a place called Fort Spencer in California. There are seven others of various abilities to accommodate travelers passing through. Boyd doesn't quite fit in as he's quiet and contemplative about the traumatic war experience that originally caused him to freeze in his tracks and then afterwards rear at the sight of blood. A man named Colqhoun (Robert Carlyle) suddenly arrived in bad shape with a story to tell about a previous adventure gone wrong that involves six laid up in a cave during a run of bad weather and it resulting in cannibalism for lack of anything else to eat--shoes and belts included. They form a party to go investigate, but not before George, the native American, explaining about the Weendigo (Wendigo): a myth that when resorting to cannibalism, a person can gain another's strength and spirit, only to become even more hungry--or ravenous.

People turn into something else, traps are in place and Boyd has to make a decision to muster up more courage to beat the tempting desire to feed and a competitive force out to consume more flesh on people's backs. With less dialogue and outward personality, Boyd seems to be a character that the filmmakers speak through with morality to put in perspective all the conquering people around him. What's effective here is he can be viewed as either weak or strong depending on where your perspective lays. Since he's always bloodied or bruised up, he can be seen as a martyr that stands up for a cause--or even a weakling that's unable to adapt and conform to a new situation. It's left in the eye of the beholder. He's playing a mental chess match with a madman who is willing to do what it takes to feed an enormous appetite that never ceases. That's the other character in the equation that seems to mirror not what's necessarily happening in the 1800s but rather how far we've taken our drive since. Not to mention our search for easy solutions at the expense of others. That need-for-more message is delivered a little more subtly than turning it into a let's-all-get-along experience. The film can be point blank at times. There are some bloody scenes, though it doesn't always go for broke to put the grizzly subject matter in the audience's face. Shocking, but not to the point of going for superficial sensations to miss out on the contemplative portions. This has a strangely humorous environment in that it's not always laugh out loud as it's just a satirical play on situations that could have been otherwise stiff, grim or gray. Some of the characters carry a more serious tone, while others provide direct amusement or even deadpan humor that gives it a somewhat black comedic taste.

Sometimes this has off-beat, somewhat abstract music that partially carries a tone of the times but in a much more tainted way that would still seem alien to someone in the 19th century. Occasionally it can be loud, to imperceptive in volume or even missing for awhile altogether to let the visuals and dialogue take a turn. It makes it that much more harder to pin down, with anticipation of what will be played next with its unguessable sounds that are a foreign matter on the first passing. The sets and outdoors look like the Americas despite being filmed in Czech Republic. Nature is captured as well as the harsher times of the 19th century without looking too polished and with formal actors in unfamiliar situations. The subject matter is handled rather effectively in that it flows from one transition to the next without jumping into the proceeding portion of the story too quickly. This is a thriller at heart, but it still moves at a steady pace to get a feel for the situation and surroundings. It makes it feel less inevitable than other films like all the revised slashers at that time from "Scream" to "Urban Legend," which fortunately makes it dodge being formulaic, though it still comes with some irony to give it that horrific touch in the face of morbid curiosity.

Rating: 9/10

Director: Antonia Bird (Priest, Face)
Stars: Guy Pearce, Jeffrey Jones, Robert Carlyle, David Arquette, Neal McDonough
Link: IMDB, history of a Wendigo

Historical questions from the Black and Red (Answers below, don't cheat!):

1. In which state did the Oregon Trail begin?
2. What were the people nicknamed in the California Gold Rush?
3. Between what years did the Mexican-American War last from?
4. What was the name of the party in the 1840s that participated in cannibalism on their way to California?




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Answers:
1. Missouri 2. Forty-niners 3. 1846-1848 4. Donner Party

The Violent Kind (2010)

A little over ambitious, but a one of a kind picture

This is a film that could almost be broken into three differently toned parts along the lines of a format similar to "A.I." and "Martyrs." Likewise, the first half seems conventional enough, the second half more dangerous and the third is about as bleak as they come--by the time it finishes, how it began will be a distant memory.

"The Violent Kind" starts out as a cool and sleazy afternoon in Oakland, CA with a posse of three young biker buddies belonging to "The Crew" who are without a care or concern except living up their own impulsive behavior from rough sex, fights to drinking beer. They go to Cody's mother's 50th birthday at an isolated house and instead of finding a bunch of well-behaved and mature adults, everybody celebrates with loud rock 'n' roll, more drinking and strippers. After almost everybody leaves, the real party just gets started, one where their livers aren't going to be the only things on the line.

Cody's ex girlfriend returns a bloodied mess and asks for help. She's brought inside and placed in a bed until the remaining people left over--three guys, two gals--can figure out why their vehicles won't work and their cell phones act glitchy to get help as they're in the middle of nowhere. All the while the audience is shown mysterious others that hang outside in the shadows. They visit the only neighbor around and cryptic symbols are shown written on the walls in blood to allude to something ominous on the horizon. Soon enough things start to get really weird, as the woman on the bed turns Linda Blair-like possessed and with her bare hands mutilates one of the guys trying to get frisky and feel her up.

Soon enough, the mysterious outsiders show up to the house to collect something they need. Though it's like they stepped into another era or some kind of paranormal realm as there are unexplained flashes of light and these new strangers appear to be ripped out of a time warp from the '50s with their distinct attire, tunes and lingo. They've got a dark and condescending sense humor that includes torturing their hostages while playing theme music on the record player and all the while laughing sardonically like they know a big secret their captives don't. They put on a sadistic show and fit their eccentric parts like a glove, though it's a rather pointless game except to show what kind of people they're dealing with: the violent kind.

The first phase is more fleshed out and some perspective is gained of the young gang with some internal conflicts, though it's a different type of knowing as being familiar with their disregard for restraint sets a new bar for comfortable living at the expense of others as well as themselves. Everything is so rebellious, carefree and in-the-moment that it's hard to care of their safety or even their demise because they might have already had it coming. The next phase is going for mystery and cheap thrills by keeping the audience in the dark with only snippets of light to what, how or why these people are there. The ending gave a feeling of hopelessness as it left the audience as well as the characters out to dry. However, they made it too powerful and far reaching without actually showing the big picture and how these select people tie in, even if they seem incidental. It would be like watching "Night of the Living Dead," except where the TV and word of mouth by others are missing, which would leave the focus in one area but not effectively set up for how it all pans out or ties in to a global matter. Otherwise it feels exaggerated to stretch its importance.

"The Violent Kind" isn't going to be for everybody but it's definitely a different type of film which travels over a wide arc of genres and steps on any morals or taboos it can in the process. One of its setbacks is it felt like a condensed mini-series that gives assorted tastes of a little bit of here and there, but not enough to really appreciate and savor everything you just seen. It's entertaining to a degree, and with the change-ups I can't say it was boring, even if everything doesn't line up or is what it is anticipated to be. It gives some homage to other films and had some hiccups though all and all it did seem one of a kind.

Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Mitchell Altieri, Phil Flores (The Hamiltons, April Fool's Day 2008)
Stars: Cory Knauf, Taylor Cole, Bret Roberts, Christina Prousalis
Link: IMDB


Facts from the Black and Red:

- The oldest motorcycle club is the Yonkers Motorcycle Club of New York which formed in 1903.

- The big four outlaw motorcycle gangs or 1 percenters are: Hell's Angels, Outlaws, Bandidos and Pagans.