Flesh, TX (2009)

Keep your family close and your enemies closer...to your stomach

This is an ultra low budget straight to video horror--camera humming, rushed lighting setups, low dialogue, computer made soundtrack, low key actors: you name it--that revolves around an amoral household in a small Texas town.

They're an oversexualized, overindulgent family of four women and two men: one of them happens to be Sheriff and some of them both daughters and partners. Each visitor that comes across the dwelling meets their end with a hint of barbeque sauce and the tip of a fork. When people aren't coming to them, one of the seductive daughters named Sugar lures 'em in--the bigger the better. Though this time Sugar gets ahold of a bratty little girl who wanted to initially run away from her mother on their way to California. The demented family prepares to cook a little Sunday night treat and go back to their ways with the others in the town all the while remaining hush-hush. Though the mother persists since she doesn't believe her daughter would have gone on a bus and just left like that. The situation acts as a catalyst to break up the family and cause some to question what they've been doing all along.

The tone has moments of being tongue-in-cheek by poking fun at backwoods folks and movies that have exploited the subject, while trying to exploit it further themselves. Sometimes it's meant to be sadistic fun, at others it comes off as far too cartoonish, such as one character wearing an obvious wig or another with a blatant blacked out tooth. This comes in and out of trying to pull your leg and also attempting to be serious, though not always finding a comfortable balance in between. The concept--if you can call it that--feels incredibly short sighted and stretched thin with little to say. Why they're eating people is never made to be a point, so the shock value of it all underwhelms.

A Sheriff that has full control of the town for his own gain has been better outlined and made more believable in even the most throwaway made for TV movie. It makes "Roadhouse" seem plausible because at least you get a better perspective of the town and how it all works. I mean, they're actual tax payers with a corporate brand gas station and an established Sheriff's headquarters, not some place that fell off the map with shoddy construction and outdated cars. They seem fully aware and unsheltered, so what gives? The story is extremely simplistic to the point of feeling like there isn't an actual story as a result of the pacing having its highs and lows and long periods of insignificant activity. If we're to be mindlessly entertained at least pull out enough situations to keep one busy and to forget all shortcomings. Easy fun and formulas are fine, so long as they're steady.

There were a few small glimmers that made it seem like the filmmakers might be on top of things and "had" it, but otherwise this feels like a practicing grounds for those involved. One particular scene went all out with some true weirdness when one of the daughters named Fancy sniffs her hands from greeting a new comer and begins to erotically touch herself as the mother smiles on and the guest looks uncomfortable enough to run on foot to the next state over. The exceptional scenes come too far few and in between, such as two girls cannibalizing a body, only to then drop a piece of flesh from one mouth to the other's.

The accents are there one moment, gone the next; it makes it a challenge to take it seriously when they're actually trying to do so. With little to work with the performances don't always get a chance to stand out enough to be remembered later. Dale Denton, playing the Sheriff, had some inspiration during some scenes either by living on the wild side at home or in charge when in uniform to get everything in order so he can continue with the former. He had conviction in either one but lacked the little touches to bring them together to make sense. Joe Estevez has a small part as the rambling town drunk who wants to come clean but is otherwise only used as a recognizable name. One thing that's appreciated is at least they gave the character of the mother with the missing daughter some strength instead of just getting pushed around like a punching bag or a helpless victim that only screams and trips over her own two feet.

Rating: 2.5/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "Delicatessen": This French made dark comedy centers on an apartment building in an apocalyptic universe where food is scarce.

Director: Guy Crawford (Starved, Dark Places, Withered One)
Stars: Kathleen Benner, Dale Denton, Joe Estevez, Davina Joy
Link: IMDB

The Final (2010)

A matter of perspective and consequences for actions

Five friends are going through a kind of Hell on Earth in high school where day to day they get bullied mentally and physically by the socially elite with no end or escape in sight. The bullies are the absolute caricatures of their type: the callous jocks and pretty things that have nothing better to do than to torment those that they feel are beneath them. The parents either don't understand or are impassive to what they're going through. They take matters into their own hands by planning and pumping themselves up for the courage to secure back their name and gain the upper hand. They all have their own little justifications for why they are going through with it but with the same end result in mind. The trap is a Saturday night invitation only costume party in an isolated area, with spiked punch inside and shackles so that their former bullies can be tortured one by one and have to endure volatile speeches about what grief they've caused. This isn't a culminating outburst that shows the years that follow like "Carrie," but a film that concentrates on returning the hurt and sending a much more blatant message.

This goes from giving a little sympathy for the originally bullied's impossible situation, then moves on over to absolute hate and revenge that doesn't just get even but goes over the mark, making the viewer question if they're any longer justified or if anyone here is actually good or bad, victim or villain on either side of the fence. This starts out with everyday high school life, moves on to a kind of exploitation where the captives get it in drawn out torture scenes, then runs on over to embrace social commentary on the subject by using an exceptional case with exaggeration to make a point about everything that comes before it as there isn't anything general or normal about the characters or their situation here. One interpretation of the events that sticks out like a sore thumb is: those who bully deserve not just an eye for an eye, but an eye for a finger...and a face...and a spine. Though since these guys, like Columbine, don't represent the normal teen all the way through I'd say the message is more: how we chose to treat others is at most times fairly simple in execution but what follows sometimes comes with irreversible consequences for our actions. That can be said about bullies in the halls of school, or returning the favor outside of school with worse tactics, until someone steps up to stop the downward spiral

The fear in this film is produced by how far it can be taken from someone who is so over the edge that they don't care about the consequences since they have nothing to lose during school and at home. There are some general relating points, though it's up to you if you should be rooting for the plan to succeed or hope they get away or maybe an option C. Then again this has two-wrongs-don't-make-a-right type of scenarios where the bad guys in the film are just badder than the last, making this carry a somewhat bleaker tone because this isn't entirely resolved in its running time but instead the major resolution is supposed to come with the audience watching.

The personalities of the captures seem to partly mirror Columbine in that the leader displays a form of psychosis or be it psychotic behavior and the others carry a form of extreme depression that would make them more susceptible to follow. It's also true that they bounced back and forth detached plans and ideas from a normal reality--Columbine with tapes made in their basement--off only each other without outside influences who might have interjected by saying what they're doing isn't right. It's obvious to an outsider looking in but not to someone neck deep in delusional thoughts. There are inconsistencies amongst their personalities, but it does show that they're being human and that they can't handle the situation that came about by a kind of luck of the draw.

The issue with "The Final" is the general tone of the picture is hard to grasp at points, as it often missteps on blending together entertainment and a message without its seams showing. It wants to be a horror movie but also a heavy satire. It indeed does both, but not equally well at the same time. In the story, the master plan doesn't go as smoothly when someone steps out of line, another lets it go to his head, as well as an outside character tries to intervene. Though there's often little real anticipation, tension or sense of the dramatic here, especially once the torture begins. Take the easy and well known example of Jason in "Friday the 13th" in that he chases pretty looking young people around a wooded area only to kill them in different and grisly ways. Yeah, it's going completely for titillation but the time in between adds to the impact when it happens. "The Final," on the other hand, feels gratuitous in that the sadism is level across the board with tied up captives who are easily taken on one by one with those with the upper hand not always giving more leeway to the game they're playing. If they were trying to desensitize for whatever reason, then they did a decent job of it. It makes the time in between feel overlong and like it could have been edited down somewhat. The picture doesn't seem to always steadily or progressively build and it starts to bog down from going anywhere substantial enough to reel in your wandering attention despite people being hurt.

The is a daring movie that doesn't just open up the obvious can of worms with bullying and school life, but also violence and pacification, the right to bear arms and easy accessibility to high powered fire arms, some religious justifications and a little politics on war with a veteran. If they threw in how much money everyone makes, this film would be up there with one of the worst conversation starters at your job. It's gotta be on HR blacklists everywhere. The movie isn't subtle about what it's trying to say by its close, to the point of feeling like the scriptwriter speaking directly through the characters with well-defined realizations that cross the line for the likelihood of actually being said by someone on the spot. It starts out by taking a somewhat reserved standing for the audience to decide where they are and then by its wrap-up it's delivering the messages home for the viewer who might not have had their thinking caps on. I'm guessing they wanted to make it known that they weren't just making "Hostel" and "Saw" part whatever, but only using the format for other means, which makes sense, but still leaves those sentiments dangling in your face.

Overall, what brings "The Final" down, despite its possible good intentions and ability to start debates and conversations from it, which can't always be said about some other films once the credits roll, is it still feels like more of a concept than a fully realized or fleshed out story. The actors are hit and miss with attempting to make this ambitious film come together, whether it's going from a black comedic tone--ala "Heathers"--to not believably performing dramatically compared to their regular selves or be it generating suspense and scares, and that can take one out of the experience that they are actually watching a film. It's something that reads much better on paper than how it pans out for a full length cinematic experience. I can't say I'd recommend this for the overall experience unless you're able to have an easier time compensating for its setbacks.

Rating: 4/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "Battle Royale": this Japanese film has some social commentary about high school life, among other aspects such as downsizing of the population. It's capable of blending messages in its story while still maintaining a certain amount of entertainment for the duration.

Director: Joey Stewart
Link: IMDB

From Dusk Till Dawn 2 (1999)

It's as if no one stepped in with both feet

Right off the bat, this was executively produced by Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender, but sent straight to video, came with a third of the budget and was also handled by a different director and writing team. Not the biggest deal, as other horror sequels such as "Hellraiser II," "Aliens," "Psycho 2" and even "Amityville II" had different directors and scriptwriters and worked in their own ways. Though two of the biggest issues here is they didn't take it as seriously as their counterparts and they tried to do a story on its own that's very loosely related to the first to the point of losing context. It doesn't come with any revelations and the plot feels flat and unremarkable to try to carry its own weight. The opening scene sets up the tone of the rest of the picture with purposefully campy acting, inflated music, overextended screaming, gore and a tongue so far in the cheek that it bores a hole out the other side.

Gone are the glue-you-to-the-screen personalities of the first, and present are a bunch of nincompoops from Texas. The characters are inept, run at a slower pace and have few things on their mind but money and having a sleazy time. It makes you watch this from a distance as there aren't any relating points, just a group of guys that are neither cool, smooth or that you want to be in the same room with. One of them is a criminal named Luther (Duane Whitaker) who escaped from custody in Texas. There are news briefs and a Sheriff named Otis Lawson (Bo Hopkins) looking for him. Meanwhile, Luther contacts Buck (Robert Patrick) about a Mexican bank deal for $5 million of laundered drug money. Buck rounds up a team with his old buds C.W., Ray Bob and Jesus, and off they go to Mexico without showing how the known criminals got there.

On an empty road and with the whole barren area to fly a bat charges into Luther's car grill. After shooting the bat, he heads up the road to the Titty Twister and mentions the situation to the barkeep (Danny Trejo), who offers to give him a ride to the hotel where the rest of the crew are meanwhile extensively watching and talking about porn. The barkeep instead heads to Luther's car, gets out and follows the blood trail of the bat. The bat is transformed back into a regular vampire form and after a scuffle, Luther gets turned. He heads over to the hotel, turns one of the others into a vampire and then tells the rest of the crew that they need to do the job tonight. Not being the brightest people, they head over and from one thing leading to another more of the crew gets turned and Buck tries to escape only to get caught up in a heated cops vs vampire shootout.

Some of the characters here don't even make sense. The barkeep returns without explanation as to why he's still alive. Bruce Campbell and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen play lawyers for a pointless opening scene that gave another homage to Hitchcock but otherwise was pointless. White hotel clerks, black security guards, and then Texas Rangers allowed to investigate a crime scene in Mexico where they have no jurisdiction. Some poetic license for entertainment value is fine--the first movie even had some omissions as well--but this just pushed the bar and it makes it look like it's not even trying. As if everyone here treated it as a stepping stone by giving it half an ounce of effort with the intention of moving on as fast as possible. For a viewer, all those little nuances that made the first returnable are lost with the second followup, and that in itself is disappointing.

"From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money" is a movie that does it all on purpose, so how do you fault it for doing nothing but that? Except it feels like it missed the mark completely with very little redeeming value even by those lesser standards. The dialogue doesn't always give separation of character between the performers. There are a few momentary puns and jabs at its own devices that get some chuckles, a nude scene, and a few inventive camera setups, but those areas only carry it so for amusement. There's very little relating points emphasized--not even the money angle; even a 'Got to do it for a cause' line--nothing to learn, not much to see as far as locations and all of the characters you want harm to come their way, but then get upset that it took too long to do so. This has none of the elaborate creature effects of the first, but then again some are made to look cheesy, such as enlarged bats. Though money was spent in the last quarter of the movie. That segment was entertaining to a degree as it turns into an all out action battle with tons of fire power gone off and some gory deaths. Still doesn't make you forget what came before it.

Rating: 3.5/10

Director: Scott Spiegel (Intruder, writer of Evil Dead II)
Stars: Robert Patrick, Duane Whitaker, Bo Hopkins, Raymond Cruz, Danny Trejo
Link: IMDB

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

A series of wrong places at the wrong times

The first peak I had of "From Dusk Till Dawn" was when attempting to sneak into the theater back in '96 and seeing the words "Titty Twister" on a sleazy bar front but then being kicked out right after. Soon enough a kind--or demented--neighbor leant the tape without alluding to the plot or genre. Being just excited that it was a "movie," not to mention with two guys and guns on the cover, I put it on without even reading the back and was surprised to find that not only was the beginning a cursing and violence filled crime adventure but then the latter half switches locales and turns into a kind of action/horror with monsters running amuck. My ignorance doubled when special make-up effects wizard Tom Savini--only known to myself before reading horror mags and dialing up to Internet access as that actor with the crotch gun--came to town to the local hobby shop and signed "my snot rag" (napkin) I had in my pocket--all for free! Good times.

Two men who live by their own rules make a mark on small town middle America by breaking every law in the book when they end up at a rinky-dink gas station in Texas. Fingers get itchy on their triggers and before you know it everyone's dead and a massive explosion ensues. "Low profile. Do you understand the meaning of the words "low profile"? Seth says to his brother Richie who ended up with a bullet hole through his hand. Richie (Quentin Tarantino) is the violence prone, perverted brother who constantly needs an eye looked after him. Actor George Clooney, as Seth, would get somewhat typecast after this as not the criminal, but the confident leader type that he does so well with a dead-set stare and words that command. This builds up to a kind of twisted redemption from a low life that is only out for himself--bank robber, cop killer, escaped felon--to unlikely antihero to protect his fellow man when something greater comes into the picture that jeorpardizes everybody's life.

From hotel rooms with one hostage to an RV with three more--including a former minister named Jacob (Keitel) and his two children Kate and Scott--they make it across the Mexico border and the Gecko brothers await a rendezvous with another criminal to make a score. That place is the Titty Twister: a Mexican bar that houses some of the rowdiest scumbags with neon lights and every vice offered to lure them in. Cheech Marin doubles as the boarder patrol agent and over-the-top host at the door selling prostitutes to bikers and truck drivers that layover in that seedy part of town. He puts a hand up to the Geckos and they return the favor with a beating. The brothers bring their captives inside and find strippers, loud rock 'n' roll, fist fights and hard liquor--their kind of place. Soon enough the incident outside and Richie's hand injury comes full circle to bite him where it counts when the host comes back in and the main table top dancer Satanico Pandemonium (Selma Hayek) can't help herself when it comes to the bloody wound. Within a split second all of the employees turn into something else and the patrons inside either run or fight for their lives by quickly using methods learned from other horror films. Yep, sometimes these things can be survival guides.

What's different about this picture compared to a straight horror film is that there isn't any foreshadowing. Though it's more action than horror by causing the characters to leap into making decisions on the fly, instead of slowly creeping up. Replay value is a blast, since you essentially have two differently toned movies in one with the same cast handling both sides. This is going for the full cinematic experience and escapism rather than truly making the environment authentic. Some of the mechanics are sacrificed for entertainment value over being thoroughly sound, so some things happen at opportune times, such as certain infected people turning faster than others or one monster having one ability and another doesn't. What makes that work is there is a decent amount of purposeful tongue-in-cheek humor, along with room left over for timed out suspense.

The beginning half of the film isn't all flash and fancy talk as they don't always hold back in what's said or done, whether it be racist comments to raping an innocent woman. Savini as "Sex Machine" and Williamson as "Frost" aren't the best actors but they still possess an onscreen tough look. This has some cool special makeup effects by KNB EFX Group that would later go on to do other big pictures; despite when CGI started to rear its head just after 2000 as the norm rather than utilizing it in a few areas. For instance, this uses some CG for transformations from normal to monstrous but the rest is prosthetics, giving it that unmistakable physical presence. There are facial masks, as well as full body casts. Not to mention some grisly gore, with anything from the straightforward brutal to the downright inventive. Most of the music feels more hip and flavorful than scary, apart from some choirs. Time just flies with this movie, from one captivating scene and piece of catchy dialogue to the next, it's hard to take your senses off what the next thing they have in store. It's one of those rare films that you'll wish didn't have to end.

Rating: 9/10

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Stars: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini
Link: IMDB


Writer's note:

This is the first time I've seen the casual walking away from an explosion in the background. Since, it's been done from here to the moon.