5ive Girls

The used movie store in town was having a ten movies that were priced $1.95 or under for $10.00. All other movies $3.95 or less were half off when you had 10 of the others. $20 and 15 movies later I have some horror ammunition for the next couple of weeks.  5ive Girls is the first these movies. For $1.50 with Ron Pearlman as a priest and a demonically possessed girl in a pentagram on the cover, sign me up. So, to keep the plot summary brief, five "troubled" girls get sent to a recently re-opened school for girls to get back on track. There is a crazy headmistress and the priest, Ron Pearlman.

One of the biggest elements of the movie was the special "powers" of the girls. I found this to be very hit and miss. I liked that Cecelia, who was blind, had a second sight through her tarot cards, but it played almost no part in the movie at all except for her to make a vague prediction of "I see you at the bottom of the stairs Alex, but someone is there with you" that comes true at the end of the movie. The same is true of both Connie and Leah. Connie is called a "conduit" and the similarity between that and her name is joked upon, but I was never clear if that was what gave her the awful bruises and scars or what. And with Leah, she phases through the filing cabinet and then phases through the door to get to Father Ron once she is possessed. For me, her "power" just seems unnecessary. Once she is possessed, there is no need for the power to get her into the room since Legion is more than capable of making anyone do anything. Mara's healing ability is much more prominent as she heals Alex after the beating from Ms. Pierce and heals herself after she is stabbed by Alex/Legion. Also, Alex's telekineses comes into play when she uses it to help her kill Legion at the end of the movie.I don't at all mind the idea of the powers, I just think that if you're going to do it then the powers need to be more prominent and not just a filler to make all 5 girls have power and not just 2 or 3.

Once they established that all of the girls had special powers and that Connie's were kicked into overdrive once she came in contact with Legion, I expected the powers to play a large role in each of their possessions. Unfortunately, the powers are relatively absent here. Connie takes on all sorts of terrible physical problems when Legion first leaks through the floor and possesses her, but once she is actually possessed Legion simply takes over her hand and makes her drown Leah. Her power plays no role in this at all. Leah does use her power when she does slutty and phases through the door to get into the chapel where Father Ron is. I liked where this scene was going. They had already established that she was unable to phase through objects like doors or walls both verbally and when they shower her trying to phase through the door on the third floor, so this makes it apparent that Legion makes her much more powerful. I also liked when Father Ron tries to exorcise Legion and Legion pretends that it is working than laughs at his feeble attempt. As much as I liked Father Ron, I was okay that he was going to die and while I liked his death in terms of its creativity, I didn't think that it fit for Leah. She is the one who can phase through stuff, this is amped up by Legion. Why the hell does she use telekineses to stab Father Ron with the crosses? I think that it would have worked much better thematically for Leah to phase the crosses into him or like phase into his chest and mess with his insides. I though that the possession transfer from Leah to Cecelia started off well also. Especially the moment when Leah first quickly walks through and takes Cecelia's walking stick. After a few minutes though, I thought the scene got a little tedious. We get it, Cecilia is bind and Leah is not so Leah can punch and kick Cecilia at will. I was okay with the transfer of Legion between them and Cecilia beating Leah to death with the huge book. Cecelia's possession was easily my favorite. I thought that she was the best at displaying a distinct contrast between herself when she was possessed and when she wasn't. I loved when she first walked out of the library and stepped aside to avoid something. I also liked that she slipped back into that innocent mode to get into the bedroom with Mara and Alex. I was expecting the "hey, she can see" moment when they realized that Cecelia wasn't Cecilia anymore, but I didn't mind it here since the movie itself was going pretty well so far and had avoided many of the genre cliches. One thing that tripped me up about the possessions was why the huge amount of stabbing that Mara did to Cecilia had no effect, but Alex stabbing Mara was able to take her down, even though she was possessed. I also wasn't sure why Mara was able to heal herself when she woke up but not Alex. I understand that she is only able to heal "fresh wounds", but wouldn't Alex's wound be just as fresh? Despite some inconsistencies in all of the transfers, I was a fan of the impalement by cross that killed Ms. Pierce.

I did like all of the spiritual and religious elements throughout the film. Obviously, the school is originally a catholic school for girls and the stuff with Elizabeth at the beginning shows that, but even there the detail that they go into with the the drawing she is doing about Legion and the 2,000 pigs and the fact that she is writing in Aramaic were nice touches. I also liked the spiritual elements in terms of the Wiccan and pagan elements throughout the movie from the stuff with Connie's amulet and the books that were confiscated to Ms. Pierce's
pentagram with the urine and blood to bind the girls to it. Even the prayers of defense that Father Ron says were accurate in terms of the prayers that priests say when dealing with possessions and performing exorcisms.

The ending was right about what I expected from this movie. I liked that the "janitor" was the father of Elizabeth and Ms. Pierce and thought that was a decent twist, but it was a little frustrating to put everyone through this, even bringing Elizabeth back from wherever she was, just to have Mara presumably escape and Elizabeth under the the mercy of her Legion possessed father.

I think that what bothered me the most about the movie was that we never find out what precisely happened to Elizabeth from the beginning. There is blood all over the floor and Father Ron is so shocked he simply sits in a desk and puts his head down. I wasn't surprised when we didn't see this at the beginning, but I thought that we would get a flashback or recreation sometime during the movie, but nope. I guess it was one of those leave it up to your imagination things, but all we get is she "disappeared" and it makes me question where all the blood came from and why her.

My favorite scene was probably when Ms. Pierce breaks all of the fingers on Mara's healing hand. It was very unexpected because, let's face it, Mara was right when she called her a bitch. I didn't think that there was a chance that Mara would get any of her fingers broken and the fact that all of them got broken was awesome and brutal. I also thought that they did a pretty good job of making her hand look sufficiently damaged. I mean, all of her fingers were broken and I believed it. It carried over well when she was possessed and Legion popped all of the breaks and dislocations back into place.

Overall, I though the movie was fun and a good watch, especially for a dollar fifty. It handled the classic group of girls vs. a supernatural/evil entity well and in a fairly unique way.

My Top 10(ish)

As I started to compile this list in my head, 10 seemed like a reasonable number, but honestly I just can't choose that few horror movies that I love. I am sure that I will review all of these at some point and I know that I could make the list 50 long if I gave myself 10 more minutes, but here are some of my all-time favorites, not necessarily in order of which I consider the "best",  in highlight mode:

1. Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Written and directed by Gullermo del Toro. Okay, so this movie for me is the movie that changed how I viewed all other movies. It was grusome, it was fun, it was inventive, it was beautiful and it made me forget that I was reading subtitles. There is so much going on in this movie: you can watch it once just for the visuals alone and it does not fade with multiple viewings. This movie is Guillermo at his finest and one that any fan of horror, or of movies for that matter, should see.

2. Halloween (1978) Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, directed by John Carpenter. This was my first introduction to horror and it has stuck with me ever since. It defined what a slasher should be, not only for me, but also for the genre as a whole. Sure it spawned 9 sequels, only a few of which are any good (and the last of which is unspeakably bad, fucking Sheri Moon) but it was also the inspiration behind Jason and the jumping board for Wes Craven to re-imagine it all with Freddy. With Halloween it's simple, he is coming for Laurie and he isn't going to stop. He moves slowly and all he uses is a butcher knife, but it is enough. The movie uses the score so well (also put together by John Carpenter) and the fact that they could turn a William Shatner mask into the face of evil still amazes me.

3. Psycho (1960) Screenplay by Joseph Stefano, directed By Alfred Hitchcock. The shower scene, the house up on the hill and Norman Bates. If Carpenter's Halloween  is the bottom floor that horror rises from, then Psycho is the bedrock beneath it all. There is so much that this film does that is ahead of its time. Its use of pacing, its use of the soundtrack mixed with silence, the shower scene, the final reveal and of course, the casting of Janet Leigh (mother of Jamie Lee Curtis) as the ill fated first victim. I could watch Psycho 100 times and still love it as much as I did the first time. An absolute must see in terms of horror and where it all comes from.

4.  A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Written and directed by Wes Craven. Freddy was a whole new type of villain for the slasher/horror genre. He talked, he antagonized, he played with his victims before he killed them. Michael and Jason were always relatively unstoppable, but Freddy could even get you in your dreams. You can run and hide from Michael and Jason for a long time, but how long can you go without sleep? Robert Englund is masterful in this role, absolutely making it his own in all 8 of the original films.

5. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) Written by Scott Glosserman and David Stieve and directed by Scott Glosserman. This movie is honestly one of my favorite movies of all time, probably in my top 5 overall. This mock-umentary follows a group of grad school students filming the escapades of Leslie Vernon who is claiming to be the next great serial killer (he puts himself in league with Jason, Freddy and Michael Myers, referring to them as Mike, Jay and Fred, in a world where Leslie's town is in a place where Elm Street, Haddonfield and Crystal Lake actually exist). The students think it is all a joke, but things take a turn for the serious and they are along for the ride. Throughout, Leslie breaks down what it takes to be a killer like the legends showing a wonderful knowledge of the genre and spoofing it in the best way possible.

6. Saw (2004) Written by Leigh Whannel and Directed by James Wan. Quite possibly one of the best/ most unexpected endings in not only horror history, but in film history in general. What Wan and Whannel do so well is again capture the human element. We don't have some terrible supernatural beast. We have a man who is bringing out the worst in people after he has been shown the worst. Jigsaw argues that he never kills his victims, they kill themselves or eachother, and while that is twisted it is also true. This is another franchise that has about 4 films too many, but the original is and will always remain amazing.

7. The Orphanage (2007) Written by Sergio G. Sanchez, directed by Juan Antonia Bayona. This film is produced by Guillermo del Toro and while he does not do any of the directing, his presence can be felt throughout it. It is quiet and slow paced but in the best of ways and the whole psychic scene as well as the scene where Laura is knocking on the wall to summon the children are terrifying. It shows the innocence of childhood and the fear of losing that very well.

8. The Last House on the Left (2009) Written by Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth, directed by Dennis Iliadis. Brutal, uncomfortable and brilliant are three words that come to mind for me when I think of this movie. I don't think I would have watched it with it being a remake but Netflix sent it to me on accident and I was amazingly surprised. The rape scene is one of the most uncomfortable, horrific moments I can think of in a movie and when the parents begin to take their revenge, I was rooting for them and happy to see how each of the bad guys would die. It suffers from bad-ending-itis but is good enough otherwise for that to be forgiven. Fire-poker, never leave home without it.

9. 28 Days Later (2002) Written by Alex Garland, directed by Danny Boyle. 28 Days Later took zombies, made them fast and angry and gave you a small group fighting against all of it. The whole film is set off by a fantastic score by John Murphy that is punctuated by the song "In the House - In a Heartbeat" that is incredibly effective in creating the feel of the movie and keeping the tension built. A couple of years before Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, Boyle speeds up the Zombies and brings them back with a vengeance, and just a little bit of rage.

10. Paranormal Activity (2010) Written and directed by Oren Peli. Paranormal Activity took the first person camera and faux reality of the story that made Blair Witch so successful and amped it up like 3 notches. It personalized things in a way that Blair Witch didn't and, in my opinion, it improved on what came before it. Now I shope they don't take a successful sequel and turn it into a terrible saga of horror movies like they tend to do with so many others.

11. 1408 (2007) Based on the short story by Stephen King, this movie personalizes terror on Mike Enslin (played by John Cusack). I love this movie and the story because I feel like it is saying, "See non-believers, this is what happens when you challenge the supernatural". For me, watching Mike's descent into what could either be madness or the monstrosity that is room 1408 and not knowing which it is makes this movie incredibly unnerving.

12. Scream (1996) Written by Kevin Williamson, directed by Wes Craven. Scream is another re-defining moment in horror. It creates characters who know what to expect in horror villains and villains who know these expectations and try to operate outside of them. It is so good and Wes is able to successfully helm them, even into the fourth installment.

13. Insidious (2010) Written by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan. Insidious is last on my list only because it is the most recent addition. This movie is simply incredible. It is hands down the best PG-13 movie I have ever seen. It has jump scares, creepy scares, eerie scares, and it lingers with you long after the movie is over. There were multiple moments when I, a seasoned horror veteran, was having to force myself to look at the screen and was yelling out loud. The setting was limited and it played with so many fears. You have to see this movie.

Stephen King review/rant #1

Along with my love of horror movies, I also love horror literature, especially Stephen King. So, from time to time, I will review the books of his that I am reading and just rant about his awesomeness as an author and a person. Today, it will be a review of the book Misery. I just finished the book yesterday and it was pretty incredible. It takes the completely natural fear that so many people have of being trapped or kidnapped. I think the most frightening thing about the book is the way that King captures Annie's plummet into the depths of her insanity. It is clear from the beginning that Annie isn't right in the head. She found her favorite author dying on the side of the road and instead of calling an ambulance she brought him back to her house and nursed him back to relative health without telling anyone. There are moments that Annie just blanks out mid sentence for minutes at a time and comes back to the real world as if she hasn't missed a beat. When Paul asks for different paper for the typewrite, Annie goes berserk and smashes his already destroyed knee before leaving him for over two days without any food, water or medication. He breaks out of his room to get medication and water. When she leaves again he finds a scrap book called "Memory Lane" that chronicles the killings that she has committed since the age of 11. All in all, she has killed over 30 people, culminating in a stint of infant killings at the hospital where she was the head maternity nurse that lead the media to call her the Dragon Lady.

When Annie finds out about the times Paul has left the room, she "hobbles" him by cutting off his left foot with an ax. A process that she goes calmly through. A little while later, when Paul complains about the missing "n" on the typewriter, Annie cuts off his left thumb with an electric knife. Annie kills a police officer and plans to kill Paul and herself once he finishes the novel and she has ready it. Paul is able to escape by pretending to burn the novel and killing Annie. Afterward, he keeps seeing Annie everywhere, but is always able to blink it away. The depth to which King describes this descent into complete insanity sticks with you long afterward. There were moments when I had to put the book down because the impending actions were too much for me to handle all at once. This is another King achievement that is scary in the way that makes most horror movies successful, it operates in a real of extreme reality that is all to easy to imagine happening in everyday life.

Solstice

The most recent horror movie that I watched was Solstice, a 2008 movie written and directed by Daniel Myrick (of Blair Witch fame). Add that to the fact that it talks of voo doo in the Louisiana Bayou and has a cast filled with recognizable, decent young actors and I thought it was worth the $2.95 at the used movie store here in town.  Megan (Elisabeth Harnois) and her friends go to spend spring break of their senior year at Megan's parents' house in the Bayou. Her mom is a cultural anthropology professor so they go every year to celebrate the Summer Solstice. This year is marred by the tragedy of the loss of Megan's twin sister, Sophie, who committed suicide over Christmas Break. Megan is already seeing and experiencing things that make her think that her sister's spirit is with them and when a local boy with voo doo knowledge leads them in a ceremony to communicate with the dead, all hell breaks loose. Eventually it is revealed that the spirit is not Sophie, but a little girl that Sophie and Christian (Shawn Ashmore) hit and buried the previous year. Christian is running from the spirit and gets hit by a car, killing him in nicely poetic fashion. Overall, the movie isn't very successful. The voo doo elements seem little more than ancillary as much of the supernatural events are happening before the ceremony that they perform. There is also the obvious red herring in the creepy "neighbor" (played by none other than R. Lee Emery) who adds some creepiness but nothing all too scary. The movie does use flashbacks and the "visions" that Megan has fairly well. Harnois is cast well as the lead. Her emotions, from fear, to anger to sadness all seemed genuine and I believed the ordeal that she was going through. The rest of the cast, however, seemed little more than stock horror movie characters and served almost no purpose except to drink and remind Megan that Sophie wasn't there anymore. Even the little dead voo doo girl is overdone at the end. Throughout the movie she has been little more than a black shadow, sometimes showing glowing white eyes and this worked well, but at the end she appears as the unharmed little girl and then "morphs" into the voo doo creature while making some screeching noise. I think though that the moment for me that sealed the deal and put this movie in the unsuccessful category was the dream within a dream sequence. For me, that is just something that shouldn't be done in horror. It plays with the audience too much and diminishes the trust I have in the movie from that point forward. Add in that it contained the movie's only legitimate jump scare and it was a sinking point for me for sure. Despite being oversold on the souther voo doo elements and lacking strong supporting characters,  I would say Solstice  was worth my $2.95.