30 Days of Night | The ALASKAthon

When the success of the Twilight franchise precipitated a swarm of mediocre, over-eroticized vampire novels and cinematic adaptations of these, the vampire trend was officially a thing. Before that, vampire films had been mainly limited to the horror genre for a long period - as far as my limited knowledge of film history goes. 30 Days of Night was released one year before the first Twilight movie and hence its vampires are ugly brutes that want nothing but to kill and feed. Which is a nice exception from the mass these days...

Set in Barrow, the northernmost town in the US, the film takes place during the 30 days of darkness that the inhabitants of the town experience every year. While the sun never sets, the vampires are free to roam Barrow day and night and leave behind them a trail of destruction. The gorgeous Police officer Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) is the first to find out what's going on and along with a few other people he manages to survive the attacks for a long time.

My Heroes: Ellen "Get-away-from-her-you-bitch" Ripley

A Bechdel test rating for movies has just been approved by the Swedish government, I finally have the chance the catch a screening of the hyped sci-fi epos Gravity tonight and Halloween is just around the corner - what better to write about these days than one of the coolest female characters that has ever kicked cinematic asses, first appearing in 1979s groundbreaking sci-fi/ horror flick Alien?

Braindead: A ballet of braaaaaaains

That brainy little bastard. Somehow, Peter Jackson - who managed to completely bore and disgust the hell out of me with his first feature gore feast Bad Taste - won my heart (and liver, and... ribs) with his third blood bash Braindead aka Dead Alive.

It's a movie very similar to the former, fully living up to my expectations of an illogical and unimportant plot, a good portion of black gore movie humour and some cool effects. But this already sets it apart from Bad Taste, for even though that one did have all of these qualities, it didn't have them in great quantities. Braindead was never afraid to go for it with everything it had, featuring the stupidest characters making the stupidest choices, saying the worst and hence funniest lines, and ripping each other apart in the most inventive and disgusting ways I have ever seen in a movie of the genre. It's not a big surprise Lord of the Rings had such great effects, when you take a look at the awesomely executed battles of Braindead. Their setting in a huge cottage in New Zealand instead of, well, Middle Earth, doesn't make them any less original and fantastic. Keeping in mind that all of these effects were done without the help of computers only adds more joy to the experience. In that way, this was a very technically interesting movie to me - I kept wondering how they did this and that, where the blood was coming from, whether somebody gargled with water in order to produce the matching sound effects... and so on. Still, Braindead is more than just a technical experience. Its over-the-top-ness in every aspect that you can possibly believe, makes me want to compare it to the extravaganza we see in for instance Baz Luhrmann flicks. It takes a big portion of self-conciousness and commitment to produce something so ridiculous and pure, and I can't help but admire Jackson for that. 

Gore-fans, like me, should keep in mind that Braindead isn't a movie for everyone. The people who cried out in disgust when we watched Fight Club in philosophy class (I know... it's sad) definitely shouldn't search out this one. But if you do enjoy or don't mind a lot of blood, Braindead is probably straight up your alley. If you live in Germany, there's another good reason to watch it, since the original uncut version was, and still is, banned here.

FINAL FRAME

STRAWBERRY

FABULOUS FILMIC FASHION: THE WOMAN IN BLACK

Featuring Matt Smith's favorite suit and no glasses.

Costumes designed by Keith Madden (no one you should know), The Woman in Black is a hauntingly beautiful and slightly scary horror movie based on the novel by Suzanna Hill. It's not a movie that'll creep into your dreams and make you want to not fall asleep, but it holds up for an entertaining and as I said very pretty view. People who thought that there was nobody attractive in the Harry Potter series will have to reconsider their arguments - although admittedly, Daniel Radcliffe is short - as the Victorian suits make the best out of who's wearing them. There's not much variety in the costume department and the characters rarely change clothes, but what we do get to see is certainly worth a mention. Or a post.

The three sisters that are seen at the beginning of the movie wear typical adult clothes as was the tradition at that time (I do know this much about historical fashion). Of course theirs are a bit "cuter" than the real adult dresses, a tad shorter and paired with hair bows. Interestingly, the girls' hair is open instead of braided, which I reckon would be unusual, but perhaps they were just playing and didn't want braids. By the way, I love what Photoshop made me do to this picture.

 

Daniel Radcliffe wears a very posh suit throughout the whole movie, which as I said makes him look more handsome than he usually does look. The upswept sleeves add an interesting contrast to the otherwise very tight and formal wear, so I loved the scenes were he just relaxed and y'know, chilled in that suit. With an axe.

But the suit is definitely most beautiful when complete. I like the way the tie is somehow above the collar - and of course the watch-chain (I think it must be a watch). Very classy. And Daniel Radcliffe definitely is the type for sideburns. The whole outfit also set his character apart from the villagers, who wore more used and practical clothes, so it was part of what defined his character. Perhaps the movie should've been named "The Man in Black". I mean, you seldom ever see The Woman herself, much less than in the TV movie from the 80s. Which, by the way, isn't wort a watch - except in case you can't resist seeing the guy who played Harry Potter's father play the same character the guy who played Harry Potter plays in this movie.

That's that, I hope you all have a wonderful, fashionable weekend and that you're not all too disappointed with my irregular blogging habits at the moment. There's just a lot of other things on my mind and on my schedule. At least I've started watching more movies again. And the secret plan with two of my favourite fellow bloggers is starting to take shape.

Unglamorous Indie Rock 'n' Roll of 2012: Wild Girl Waltz and Gut

It's been a while since my last proper review and I thought I'd use the occasion to write about two films that I've been meaning to write about for a while. They've both been sent to me by two different indie film makers, who funnily asked me to review them almost the same time. That was one of the first times I felt that blogging actually has some material advantages, something you can touch. Like a free DVD. That's pretty cool for a poor student.

Wild Girl Waltz

Written and directed by MARK LEWIS

www.wildgirlwaltz.com

    

WILD GIRL WALTZ is a light-hearted comedy set in the middle of nowhere, centering around three friends who have an exceptionally messy time together. It also strikes some more profound notes in the middle of all the madness and despite some technical "flaws" I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Post #100: My Top 5 Horror Films

Watching one of the most praised horror films ever, Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING, for the first time, I started wondering why some people, including me, just can't get enough of this genre. As a die-hard fan of the filmic horror genre, I've eventually come to see some of the trashiest films on earth, and also some of the better ones - mostly the latter though, which leads me to believe that making a good horror film is a hard thing to do.
Most directors and actors have had something to do with comedies at least once in their career, and they will very often tell you (in those propaganda-esque, short making of features that you often see on TV) that making people laugh is "like the hardest thing in film business" and "so much harder than making people cry" bla, bla. Professional writers tend to come up with something similar in interviews.
However, in my opinion, it is so much harder to scare an audience in a way that is actually physically exhausting, to make them shed tears of fear, not joy or amusement. If you don't believe me, you should try and watch SPLINTER. Hilarious - but not in the slightest scary.

If I watch a bunch of "comedies" - the term doesn't always prove to be fitting - years of practical research tell me that I will like at least 50% of them; most comedies get a rating around 6.0 from me, and a rating above 5.5 means I at least like parts of a film. Now, if I watch a bunch of "horror films" - producers are not being very canny with this term either - I reckon I'll like, say 20% of them, and maybe another 9% of them I will consider to be decent comedies.
So what makes me - and I believe I'm not the only one - sit through these hours of boredom?

A Romantic Comedy Turned Horror Movie

I'd never before heard of the LAMB Photoshop event, which seemingly happens every now and then.
As I like to play around with image manipulation, I thought I'd join in. You can submit an image until October 31st - to read more, click on this link.

PS: I use the program "GIMP" - can't afford the real Photoshop.

See you on All Hallows' Eve!

Review: Arundhati [Ties of blood or "Khoon Chala, Khoon Chalaaa"]

- This review is not critically intellectual or similar, as this is my first Tollywood film. But don't get used to it, I'll try to avoid writing like that. -


PS: I'll be on mini-hiatus for the next 4 days - I'm on a class trip/ politics simulation from Mon-Thu.

ARUNDHATI (2009) అరుంధతి


Director: Kodi Ramakrishna
Author: Ramana Chintapally
Producer: M. Shyam Prasad Reddy
Music: Koti
Starring: Anushka Shetty, Manorama, Sonu Sood


Plot: This film revolves around three generations. Arundhati is going to marry Rahul, so before marriage, she visits her native village. One night, she receives a phone call from Rahul, telling her that he's in fort Gadwal. But when Arundhati enters the fort, that is said to be haunted, the horrible past of her great-grandmother Arundhati, called Jejamma, fusions with reality and a fight of good against evil is once again held.


Written the 12th of March 2011

I chose "Arundhati" for "debuting" in the Telugu film industry (Tollywood)... It's been several months now, that I'm maundering about watching more regional Indian films, and I had actually thought I was going to slowly "train" myself with Siddhart's Telugu films. But I'm very happy now, that I chose this film. Despite the fact, that I'm certainly not very familiar with this film industry, I think that the film is a good representative, and a good beginning for inexperienced people... of a curious nature. That's because it's just totally exaggerating - but it's still good.
 I haven't seen The House of Flying Daggers, sadly, but that's why I bursted into laugh seeing that drum dance sequence. Oh yes, colourful scarves playing the drums... Additionally, there's tons of pink-looking blood, a good-looking, but evil because of evil voice Sonu Sood, and a lot of mythology. Plus a language, that I do not understand at all. I felt drawn back to the starting time of my passion for Bollywood, at least I thought, that I probably felt quite similar at that time. Thrilled, though not as thrilled as I was by Hindi, which I began learning very quickly, I listened to the dialogues and admired the squiggled letters. I learned one word already, actually: "Raa" meaning as much as "come". Leading actress Anushka Shetty, whom I obviously do not know ("Arundhati" was not only my Telugu debut, but also only my second south-Indian film, after "Bumbai"), fitted her role perfectly, but if she's really talented, I can't tell, as her role consisted of over-acting, mostly. 
Same for Sonu Sood, but as I already know him from other films ("Dabangg", "Jodhaa-Akbar"), this performance of his is only another plus point. It's namely quite different from his other roles. All supporting actors were all right, most of them over-acting grandly (by the way, does the fakir speak Hindi sometimes - it seemed as if?), only the fiancé is quickly forgotten.
Music... the aforesaid drum dance number did actually impress me, beginning very still and vulnerable, but then getting angry and fast, which is a great achievement of the singer. Otherwise, I don't recall any other fancy songs. 

Now, let's focus on the last point: Special-Effects. Honestly: I found them very brave. Many Indian films of this kind just focus on "scary" background score or similar, but here they really tried to build a mythologic world of horror. Seemingly, they didn't have the best technical facilities (or maybe it's a matter of the budget), but just that giving-it-a-try made an impact on me. It is trashy, but lately I often find myself as a fan of (good) filmic trash, so nothing of this was annoying to me. Rather amusing and entertaining. And about the blood; well, though I had already often read reviews and articles about south-Indian cinema, I was still "surprised" by the floods or seas of blood, but I had a sense of humour about it. Yes, that's absolutely possible. Especially, when the blood is pink.
Okay, the coconut-stoning was really a little crass, but you can look the other way for a while.


You see, I could write much more about this adventure of mine, but particularly I can recommend it to everyone, except for the weak minds. As I've read somewhere: "Do something you haven't done before, every day". A great advice, and I try to follow it, really. Of course, watching an unknown film also counts, that's something new as well, but why now get over yourself and jump into the cold water of a new film industry? (PS: A Hindi-remake of this one is also planned).

Rating: 7.1

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.