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Chain Letter Review

16:08 |

Chain Letter

Reviewed by James Cheetham

jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com

Keeping up with the modern trend of social media, something that seems to have rapidly afflicted our society and become an obsession, horror films of recent years have quickly begun to encompass these mediums of communication to create new methods of terror. Chain Letter is one of the latest editions employing this stance on horror, attempting to expand upon the simple formula of a hack’n’slash film to incorporate the device of an internet chain letter which works as effectively as scrawling a big red X on each one of the victims foreheads.

Taking a page out of The Ring’s rulebook, a film that can be seen to be one of the most influential horrors of recent years, Chain Letter abides by similar conventions, with the only escape from a painful, gruesome death being the passing on of this chain letter via email. It is an interesting idea that, with a bit more effort put in, could have resulted in an intriguing film, the premise of signing away a friend’s life by clicking the mundane ‘send email’ button to save your own skin playing into darker themes of guilt and sacrifice for personal gain. Unfortunately, Chain Letter doesn’t make too much of an effort to explore this side of things, and decides to focus more upon the killer, a hugely scarred man who has a fetish for metal chains.

This means the premise of the film, the chain letter, is put on the back burner and instead the camera focuses in upon this monster who, for no reason explained, decides to slay a handful of high school teens. Unlike successful villains of classic horrors, such as Freddy Krueger and Hannibal Lecter who inspire a real sense of villainy due to their lack of motivation, the villain of Chain Letter is lacking in any kind of depth to give this absence of reasoning to his chain letter killings any sinister sway. Eventually he turns into more of a comical figure as you see this hulking mass of a serial killer perched over a computer screen looking on facebook, evolving Chain Letter into a parody, unwittingly poking fun at the idea of films that merge together elements of horror with social media platforms.

Being a horror film that takes more delight in the gory death sequences rather than focusing upon the interesting aspects of its initial premise, Chain Letter becomes just another entry in the teen horror catalogue, setting up a stereotypical cast of high schoolers, and then picking them off one by one with gruesome aplomb. The directing doesn’t bring anything particularly original to the table, with the opening scene being the most memorable which sets up a particularly gory sequence that any one of the various Saw sequels would be proud of. But the promise this opener gives is dashed as Chain Letter becomes bogged down with the building mountain of amputated teen limbs.

What starts off as an exciting idea with a brutal opener, Chain Letter quickly devolves into a murder by numbers horror that is neither original nor interesting, a fact made more frustrating as the narrative device of the chain letters could have allowed room for a wealth of twisted themes and characters.

2/5

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Fertile Ground DVD Review

12:16 |

Fertile Ground

Reviewed by James Cheetham
jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com

The haunted house is a popular trope in the world of horror, warping the friendly nature of the family dwelling into a place of uncanny supernatural energy where theoretically, the home no longer becomes a home. Playing into this successfully exploited phenomenon is Adam Gierasch’s Fertile Ground, most recently seen this year at the After Dark Original Horrorfest Weekend.

The plot follows the plight of the Weavers, a married couple from the city who, after suffering a tragic miscarriage and the resulting infertility of the wife, move to a country farmhouse to set up a new life for themselves. Of course, any house that is secluded to such a degree and has a strange resemblance to a certain Bates Motel, will clearly be rife with a ghost or two, and once moved in the inevitable strange goings-on commence. As Nate Weaver becomes caught up in his artistic career, his wife Emily finds herself laden with the usual ghostly horror movie fare; skeletons, crying children, ghostly apparitions and mysterious human hand prints.

While the haunted house aspects of the narrative are old hat, the interesting elements of the plot revolve around Emily and her failed pregnancy. After being diagnosed infertile, it comes as a shock when she finds herself pregnant again once they have moved onto the new land. It is here that the interesting components of the story weave their way in to offer a new angle on the sub-genre. Instead of the threat of the film being limited to the haunted house, another danger is found with the mysterious pregnancy, the haunting and the pregnancy having odd parallels. Each entity, the house and Emily’s womb, are caught up in a cycle and just as the idea of one’s home becoming uncontrollable and sinister, the same idea can be placed upon Emily’s anatomy, the two becoming intertwining paradoxes with Emily Weaver caught in a frantic limbo between the two.

Unsurprisingly, this does not have a particularly positive effect on the poor woman, and as events spiral out of her control and her husband grows distant from her and their situation, the film concludes in a rather abrupt finale which takes an entertainingly skewed stance on what could have been just another boring conclusion of dominant possessed husband attacks unstable housewife.

While the plot gives the film a positive backbone, a few additions to Gierasch’s horror let it down somewhat. While they may be cosmetic elements, the costume design and the soundtrack do come across as amateurish which could simply be a result of the low budget nature of the film. One component that could have been avoided however is the odd inclusion of title cards which break up the film and unfortunately only add to the sometimes amateurish nature.

Blending influences from classics such as The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby and The Amityville Horror, Fertile Ground does still manage to hold its own. This is mainly due to the added pregnancy plot that manages to build upon the idea of creating an unsettling atmosphere by making not just the house, but also one’s own body, a place of eerie distrust.

3/5

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The Hangover 2 Review

07:09 |

The Hangover 2

Reviewed by James Cheetham
jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com


Like any summer sequel, The Hangover 2 attempts to abide by the three rules of reaping high box office figures; bigger, better and flashier, and it manages to achieve all but the most vital. Unfortunately it is far from better.

Rather than making any effort to rejuvenate the narrative beats of the last film, The Hangover 2 simply devolves into the first film but set in Bangkok. The tiger is replaced with a drug running monkey and the baby is swapped for Mr Chow, Chow being the only plot device that manages to bring in some semblance of hilarity.

Instead of coming across as the light-hearted disaster-com of the first film, The Hangover 2 almost seems to try to approach the genre of dark comedy, minus the comedy. The hung-over patriots are now slugged through a ream of horrific situations involving one getting shot, the dismemberment of fingers and one drunkenly having sex with another man. Any moments that could have allowed for comedy are killed with unintelligent dialogue, one example being the scene that reveals to the horrified Stu that he had sex with a man, the humour being shot down mercilessly with distasteful writing; “I shoot my load into you and you shoot your load onto the floor.” Awkward silence. Any moments of enjoyable word play come from Mr Chow, “Hola! City of Squalor!” but these are few and far between.

Rather than develop what will no doubt become a sequel laden franchise into an unexpected comedy romp, The Hangover 2 makes no effort to switch things up and with it hitting the same beats as the last, the ridiculous surprises that made the first offering so enjoyable are now gone.

2/5

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Hereafter Review

08:33 |


Hereafter

Reviewed by James Cheetham
jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com

It’s always a good day in any film fan's week when a new Clint Eastwood film comes along, his most recent directorial effort being, Hereafter.

Unlike his previous endeavours, which focus upon political and emotional injustices and dramas, (i.e his other Matt Damon vehicle, Invictus) Hereafter is a different animal altogether, instead awkwardly attempting to juggle themes of the afterlife and psychic reverberations.

Charting three alternative narratives, and trying to merge the trio together, we are treated to one plot involving Damon and his unfocused and burdened psychic ability, a young boy who’s grieving the loss of his twin brother in London, and Cecile de France who narrowly escaped death due to a tragic tsunami.

These three plots are loosely connected, each one shuffling along at a fairly slow rate, and when they do finally conjoin it is so late in the game that there is no satisfying pay off.

Unfortunately, this means Hereafter bumbles along at a badly structured and uninteresting pace, the only memorable moment being the CGI laden tsunami sequence which acts as the exciting and promising opener of the film, the only other draw of the rest of the run-time being Damon's portrayal of a damaged psychic, doing his best with a fairly shoddy and somewhat embarrassing script. ("It's not a blessing...it's a curse!" *audience rolls eyes*)

Instead of exploring the mysterious depths of the myths of the afterlife, Hereafter comes across just as bland as its depictions of the ghost's limbo dimension; boring and lifeless.

We shall allow you this one bump in the road Clint, but please don't plan on making another...

2/5

Hereafter is released on DVD 13th June

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Horror; Let Me In & Wakewood Reviews 2/5/11.

14:02 |

Let Me In


Reviewed by James Cheetham
jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com

It’s hard to review a remake of an already brilliant and recent film. It means the original is still relatively fresh in your mind with its first viewing and in most cases the remake will pale in comparison. Let Me In is a perfect example of this.

Unlike many remakes, Let Me In is not a bad film, far from it. But its existence is fairly pointless (much like other recent remakes such as Quarantine, the unneeded remake of Rec), with characters and themes all being tackled in the same way as the original and not really attempting anything radically different. The only two differences that crop up are the obvious language differences and the acting.

Let Me In lacks the atmosphere of the original with the melodrama being more evident in the remake and over fraught, something that eats away at the mysteriously sinister nature of the characters/relationships. The lead actors are not bad in any sense, but appear average when compared with the otherworldliness of the leads from Let The Right One In. They simply do not have the same chemistry or depth.

If viewed alone, Let Me In would have been a great film, but with the Swedish version having beaten the Hollywood edition to the punch, this film comes across as lacking and merely rolls along, always slightly missing out on the magic of Let The Right One In.

3/5


WakeWood

Reviewed by James Cheetham
jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com

Hammer horror, in an attempt to break back into the world of modern terror and pushing aside the torture-porn and remake purgatory of Hollywood is back, lambasting us with its usual fare of British eeriness.

Pulling strings from classics such as The Wicker Man and Don’t Look Now, Wakewood toils with a married couple who recently lost their daughter and move to the British countryside village of Wakewood.

As events progress and the mystical underbelly of Wakewood is revealed, our appetite for the sinister is fed and things evolve to involve sacrificial rituals, resurrection, creepy villages and plenty of bloody murder.

Whether director David Keating has made the effort to direct Wakewood to give it a slight hammer horror amateurish atmosphere, or simply lacks the talent is not 100% clear as the direction is sometimes uneven and doesn’t manage to achieve a balanced style throughout. However, the use of abrupt zoom-ins add to the classic horror feel and the plot weaves along in similar clichéd aplomb.

Wakewood makes for a vaguely entertaining yarn, but the lack of originality is hard to overlook even with the rather entertaining finale.

2/5





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Somewhere Review

14:01 |

Somewhere

Reviewed by James Cheetham

Jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com

As an avid fan of Lost in Translation, I knew I was going to love this film. And while I can’t quite decide whether Somewhere topped it, I know that I definitely developed a deep fascination with it.

Sofia Coppola’s latest is rife in a quiet brilliant beauty that instils every single frame with a certain elegance. Whether this is an elegance of innocence, hope, self-destruction or sleaze, it spills from the screens as the camera slowly crawls through the life of fictional A-list celebrity Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) and his 11 year-old visiting daughter (Elle Fanning).

The two central performances are tone perfect. Dorff creates a living crack that allows you to peak into the downside of a hedonistic-led life, and Elle Fanning juxtaposes his performance with a shy confidence that hides a pre-pubescent tirade of emotions and hormones soon to come.

Coppola sticks to what she knows and doesn’t try to develop a different style just for the sake of it. Somewhere has the same meandering essence that Lost in Translation was soaked in, but it works for the development of the characters and the slow moving plot, resulting in a strong sense of alignment between the characters and the viewer . This is put to good use within the moments of drama, and while not frequent, when they happen they become wonderfully intimate and hypnotic moments that showcase the talents of Coppola.

If you like your films slow-moving yet immensely satisfying, Somewhere is a must-see. An accomplished piece of cinema that calls for further viewings and satiates a hunger within cinephiles such as myself who will find themselves calling for further Sofia Coppola films to be brought into creation.

5/5

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The Adjustment Bureau Review

13:11 |

The Adjustment Bureau Review


Reviewed by James Cheetham
jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com

To be perfectly honest, I’ve had enough of Matt Damon and his damn running. The Bourne films were awesome, mainly because he interspersed his running with the odd face jab or kick, but it seems to becoming more prevalent that Damon is basing his roles on the amounting of running within the script.

His most recent role finds him chasing a lost love, a girl he should have ended up with, but due to various fantastical reasons, his destiny with her was dodged, changed, and warped, (so he’d become the president of the United States. Obviously.)

With this relationship as the foundation of the narrative, The Adjustment Bureau becomes a romance film wrapped loosely within the trimmings of scifi/fantasy. Fantasy you ask? Yes, because the main plot device of the film is the use of angel-like creatures. They are men in suits who mince around in bowler hats with little notepads that reveal the life maps of people, life maps that they must ensure are followed.

These bowler-hat men meddle in the everyday lives of humans to make sure we all reach our ultimate goals and generally just walk around using free will to wipe their ass. Why? Because last time they let us live by free will we invented genocide. Go us.

So they are involving themselves in our mess to make sure the human species eventually climbs towards its finale.

Matt Damon’s character sidesteps his controlled fate when he meets a ballerina played by the marvellous Emily Blunt. The chemistry between the two is brilliant and makes his constant pursuit of her believable. But with his fawning after her meaning he is not reaching his written destiny the angels become involved, attempting to break the two up. The excitement of the film doesn't really kick in until the end when there is a chase scene and a whole lot of jargon is spilled out into the film, which ultimately just leads to Damon running around a lot. Again. And after all the running? A boring deux ex machina that will have most eyes rolling in annoyance.

So prior to the final triathlon, The Adjustment Bureau is simply rather a lot of romantic yearning and composition driven dialogue via suited men. Overall? Not nearly entertaining enough and it falls into the frequent trap of; seen the trailer? seen the film.

2/5

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