Outrage (2009)

A total genre mixup

"Outrage" includes backwoods yokels, city slickers, spirits, healers and who could forget crazed military ex-cons. The location of Georgia is about the only aspect that stays still. The subgenres change over from a death in the family, vacation, potential love, hostage, spiritual, thriller and survivalist with some tongue-in-cheek humor if that wasn't enough regarding other films--yep, these guys have ADHD or they're assuming you do with all your various electronic gizmos and gadgets to distract... Instead of the experience being refreshing, it feels like an Easter egg hunt where people show up that weren't invited, you're to scour for unguessable items without a map and rules are added and subtracted on sheer whim.


An oafish looking hunter named Billy gets struck by lightning and gains a new perspective on hunting animals for sport. Next a woman and man are being hunted in another stretch of woods by far more dangerous rednecks called the Loomis brothers, only to run off and get killed by a sniper. Oblivious, a woman named Christine and her pal Trey (director Ace "Friend Zone" Cruz) are headed out for the remote area to sell her late dad's cabin that Billy was a caretaker for. Two of their friends--a wild husband and wife--show up for a mini vacation that gets cut short for all when the Loomis brothers and mysterious leader Farragut--who were former inmates from the local military prison--tie them up and terrorize them. In the ordeal, Billy dies but his spirit comes out of his body to watch the events unfold. The remaining escape but have to fight for their lives in the nearby woods.


Billy's character frequently narrates overtop like a "Sling Blade" meets "Forrest Gump" with life's little lessons in between. "Sometimes life's like a seesaw. One minute everything is happy and fun. The next minute, it ain't." His pal, same exact actor from "Deliverance," doesn't speak but lets his banjo do the talking with a sixth sense for picking up pitches of people's emotions. There's a fine line between acting slow and coming across as accidentally comical in all the wrong places or just plain retarded if the performer doesn't create staying power or charm. Billy's character goes over the mark, which makes it a challenge to take it with any shred of merit. Especially since they made him such a typical hillbilly caricature with overalls and fake chompers to boot. It's possible they only wanted to be light hearted but he ended up being cartoonish at times.

Michael Madsen plays a condescending military man with nothing to lose. It's all sadistic fun and games as he torments and terrorizes his captives with little end goal in mind to make him more of a mad man--except like all diabolical villains he might have a surprise up his sleeve. Michael Berryman plays a faith healer of little words named Obeah who gives Christine a healing rock and advice about losing her fear or else she won't win the fight. Christine was kidnapped when she was younger and has a rage regarding it. Her father taught her how to survive and protect herself, which isn't always capitalized on here as she runs more than fights.


This can make one's head spin as it's both a conflicting story as to what to feel or where it's headed next but then at other points it's treated so simplistically as to hold the audience's hand with a quick and lazy narration overtop about who, when or why. This tries to do a different type of thriller/survival film, though a share of the characters don't feel real to life but just thrown together for contrast's sake. Not to mention the sequences of events are told in such an awkward way as to lose the viewer in subtext over and over again without giving a break for breathing room. It has heart and loads of ambition but the lack of resources and power to pull everything off. It threw together far too many clashing tones without measuring them out or giving time for a steady focal point; the various musical cues--from old-fashioned to modern--didn't exactly help bring it together either. Its attempts at trying to make this serious and tongue-in-cheek at the same time falls flat. The experience makes one feel detached without a stable mood to latch onto.

There are some messages that deal with violence and how hate can destroy a person by following them around if they don't let go. Despite not working entirely, the story does come full circle for all those involved, so there's some meaning for the viewing experience instead of just going with a throw away film with superficial action moves and violence; it's a good thing as the action choreography usually consists of them running from place to place--sometimes tripping--without always giving a challenging cat and mouse chase.

The verdict: the film never manages to slow its ambitious heels to make the overall experience move at the same time as the audience instead of getting too overexcited and running ahead.

Rating: 2.5/10

Director: Ace Cruz (Fate, Desert of Death)
Stars: Paulyd, Katie Fountain, Ace Cruz, Natasha Lyonne, Michael Madsen, Michael Madsen, Michael Berryman
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.

Storm Warning (2007)

Don't stray too far from home

"Storm Warning" is an Aussie film that takes on hard-to-mistake characteristics of "Deliverance" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" still some 30 years later. This likewise has the wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time city slickers, the isolated location and who could forget the dysfunctional family to clench the formula.

Are you, or someone you know, the type of person that needs a solid reason to get angry or inflict violence? This film is aimed more at the individual that even when pushed has a tendency to let conflict whiz right over their head. "Storm Warning" takes one regular lawyer and one significant other with spiced up French accent and throws them into a situation that leaves them paralyzed by fear. The first half of the film heads in the direction of "Funny Games" and "The Strangers" with too-timid-for-their-own-good folks pitifully matched up against some really shady, don't-bring-these-guys-home-to-your-mother type of characters. Though the fortunate difference is when the going gets rough, these regular people might find out they have more primitive survival skills in them than they thought.

This has no doubt been done before, so there aren't a load of surprises to unwrap or leave gaping wounds from. Though the film is effective in that it can take the audience out of their comfort zone and give a somewhat disgusted feeling from these crusty-toothed individuals that missed a few key links in the gene pool. "Storm Warning" works more for the individual who maintains a calm environment and isn't too distanced from routine, because for someone who can instantly spark anger or took a few can't-wait-to-try-these-out techniques in martial arts, this film would have been most likely over in 30 minutes. But that's just it, these people seem to represent that gal or guy that you wouldn't recognize in a crowd or read about in the local paper for on-the-spot heroism. This shows that some wear their caveman attire on the outside, while others repress that due to adaptive, modern conditions.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Jamie Blanks (Urban Legend, Valentine)
Stars: Nadia Fares, David Lyons, Mathew Wilkinson, John Brumpton
Link: IMDB

Misery (1990)

Gives new meaning to I'll scratch your back you scratch mine

The idea behind "Misery" involves a pretty basic story about fixation and survival after a well-known serial writer crashes his car during a blizzard and a local nurse pulls him out and harbors him in her house till his injuries improve and things blow over. This is a psychological chess match of an encounter that's a thrilling, cinematic journey that might get you rubbing your legs afterwards or just plain ashen at the sight of a snow storm on the rise for reasons other than nature at its fiercest.

The film has a certain building flow that escalates as it progresses. Annie Wilkes, Kathy Bates' character, starts out as an eager care taker and a bashful fan of the writer's work but as time creeps on she reveals a Jekyll and Hyde persona with one side being a polite small towner and the other a troubled women with a few skeletons in her closet. Paul Sheldon, played by James Caan, keeps his wits and emotions in check with a sense of dark humor despite the impossible situation he's found himself in. It's imperative that he plays along to her demanding personality as with the extent of his injuries he can't prepare his own food, never mind emptying the bladder. Though even when the weakest animal gets pushed or cornered: Watch out.

"Misery" carries distinctive traits of a Stephen King story as it starts as small as a seed, concentrates on character development and keeps you in the moment instead of worrying about technical jargon. Kathy Bates seems like she was made for the role of Annie Wilkes with her good-natured appearance and aura, but then what clenches it is there's just something you can't put your finger on, as if she's too welcoming. She's capable of pulling off both the pleasant and insane sides as if they were one and the same. This is a tale of circumstance: if two strong personalities intersect and how they ultimately interact with one another. When they first meet they have something in common on the surface, though as some find out personal information about the author or celebrity they so admire or that friendly neighbor or employee who appears normal on the outside, nothing could be farther than the truth. It's easier to fill in the blanks in our minds about others without really getting to know them...or their darkest secrets.

Rating: 9/10

Director: Rob Reiner (This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride)
Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth
Link: IMDB

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.

The Killing Jar (2010)

Bullet hole with your coffee, sir?

"The Killing Jar": the "jar" being a small town diner and the "killing" being people trapped inside with their fate up to a gunman. This begins by familiarizing the audience with these simple town folk just out for a late night bite at their favorite greasy eatery with jukebox, stifling heat and cheap prices. After hearing a radio broadcast about four murders of a husband, wife and their two children, the patrons--couple, waitress, deputy, cook, truck driver and passer through--speak their disgust but go about their business and shoot the breeze.

You get the hardened boss/cook (Danny Trejo), who's overshot vocal tone and miscued body language indicate he quickly filmed some scenes at different times than who he's interacting with. The young couple aimlessly use a video camera and talk about idle dreams. The most natural and credible performance is by the passer through (Harold Perrineau), who is a salesman that just wants to get back home but he'll need a strong cup of brew. The truck driver and deputy keep it familiar as if this is the same routine. A Rockabilly type (Michael Madsen) eventually enters. He's demanding and acts suspicious, which upsets the waitress and causes the deputy to get into a threatening confrontation, which sends Madsen's character over the edge. He can go from spaced-out, henchmen-confident to sympathetic and unsure but not always clenching the transition in between to make it all credible. The moment he storms back in with a shotgun, you lean forward in your seat for hopefully the real start of the adventure.

The rest tries to maintain an intrigue and build up to a twist ending, though apart from a few abrupt and bloody deaths it feels like one giant tedious string along without a major purpose or relatable reward, with the exception of the simple but capable waitress being offered the opportunity and courage to get out of the rut she's at in the restaurant and in her life. However, with everything padded and piled around her to equally get coverage of everybody else, she's not consistently at the focal point of attention to realize this till the latter portion. The gunman kills for no apparent reason other than being provoked. All of a sudden he gains some kind of higher righteousness and uses a skill-set from a past profession to interrogate the patrons and a revelation comes out about the news report involving the murdered family.

On paper this reads like a good idea to produce a low budget movie concentrated on story and characters than one-liners, extravagant sets and location changes. But since the film is so claustrophobic, the flow, character interaction and direction tried to continually throw off the cinemaphile who studies all the details and tries to figure out the puzzle beforehand, though it did the opposite as it didn't fluidly come together to put the audience in the direct moment or believably rationalize with their motivations enough to wholly care that this could actually happen where innocents are being killed in this far away place. It shows how much some filmmakers are willing to go to guard their secret twist, even at the expense of the rest of the picture. It also didn't help that they tried to clash quirkiness and sarcasm amongst sentimental moments, such as Jake Busey's character looking laughably tacky with a weaselly grin mixed with pseudo introspective shots that pan around the diner possibly to throw the scent off. "The Killing Jar" had the right ideas going in, just some of the wrong execution as the flow came in and out in waves.

Rating: 4/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "Hostage" from 2005, which had an ensemble cast, gravitating performances, mysteriousness and a number of thrills.

Director: Mark Young (Tooth & Nail)
Stars: Michael Madsen, Harold Perrineau, Amber Bensen, Jake Busey
Link: IMDB

Open House (2010)

No one said who it could be open to

A woman named Alice (Rachel Blanchard) is selling her house after a divorce and her agent is showing it off to potential buyers while she still lives in the residence. A person sneaks in and hides--hey, it's an "open house" isn't it--and awaits her to come home, not because this person wants to dodge the pesky realtor, but to meet her face to face and use her dwelling as a slaughterhouse for whoever comes in contact with it.

You're introduced to David (Brian Geraghty) and Lila (Tricia Helfer): a couple who make a sadistic partnership, as the female is spontaneous and seductive, and the male is the silent planner type. Lila arrives at the home after the bloody fact with a friend of Alice already being killed, but doesn't know David has the homeowner Alice locked away instead of slaying her too. Lila is gone during the day and David plays Mr. Nice to the traumatized Alice with some Stockholm Syndrome to smooth her over for a possible change of heart.

Death after death is shown by both David and Lila with the weapon of choice being a kitchen knife and video camera rolling to catch the memory. Though this comes with no real point and has more forced scares going on than your neighbor's cheap garage setup during Halloween. This tries far too hard to make you uneasy without actually providing anything to substantially pull that off with, such as cueing the high pitched and grating music too early or late, or just the pacing having drastic ups and downs. Like "The Strangers" attempted, there's no background motivational factor to these perfectly normal looking villains except to show every now and again they have moments of anger and control problems. Not to mention there's only a quick little character backdrop on the victims but nothing that would make you care in the slightest. That might have been fine and dandy to creating fear of the unknown, but this is also missing the element to put you in their shoes if it was being any more minimalist. Could this happen to you when selling your house? From the tone of this movie, probably not, as the camera never bothers to leave the home and show someone enter at their own risk, or even get a questioning look through the blinds from a neighbor to put you on edge or their sadistic plans on ice. The safety barrier of the screen you're watching it on is never pulled away.

For a film aimed towards horrific murder it's awfully polite and melodramatic by trying to play on what you wouldn't expect serial killers to act or look like as one is glamorous and model-esque and the other polite and clean cut. The tone tries to be two things at once: gruesome and personal. It shows the deteriorating relationship between David and Lila, as well as the growing one with David and Alice. You'll get the side that's warm and caring to each other, and another that delivers point blank killings to everyone else. The camera follows around David and will literally sit on him doing everyday household things as if something substantial is going on between the lines. As if you're supposed to feel bad but forget that he's a maniac underneath that wholesome '50s look because he's lonely and cooks a mean dish. The interpretations left up the viewer rely on luck than truly being open to them. The paper thin storyline all the while drops little hints, but strings you along by being so vague as to lose the audience's attention long before its conclusion. They could have told me who really shot Kennedy at the end and it wouldn't have saved this.

"The Stepfather" did something similar where he pretended to be somebody he wasn't and when after he was done with the people just disposed of them; the horror being that it's a cycle and he'll only do it again. "Open House" tries to dodge what you wouldn't anticipate if you watch horror films, with not only the characters but the drama-like story line that pushes away from tried and true conventions, though somehow it couldn't maintain the juggling act as basic as it was.

Rating: 2/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "The Collector" from 2009, which was much more effective for a recent trapped in a house movie that balanced fear, mysteriousness and suspense.

Director: Andrew Paquin
Stars: Brian Geraghty, Rachel Blanchard, Anna Paquin, Tricia Helfer, Stephen Moyer
Link: IMDB