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ChrisFrost
Reviews
Curtains (1983)
VERY UNDERRATED SLASHER
This Canadian slasher is probably one of the better ones to come out in the wake of the slasher craze of the early 80's. Six actresses vying for the same part are summoned to a tyrannical director's isolated country estate for an atypical casting call weekend. Soon after arriving, the women fall prey one by one to a masked, knife-wielding killer. Is it the director? The veteran actress he double-crossed for the part? One of the other actresses? Or someone else.
What might have been a run of the mill slasher is given some notability by the eerie snowbound location, which gives off a claustrophobic atmosphere. Also worth mentioning are the generally good performances of the cast, some of whom are "names": John Vernon, Samantha Eggar, Linda Thorson.. The score is ominous and beautiful at the same time, and does a lot for maintaining the tension.
It's not a perfect film, and to be honest, is not completely satisfying, but some great setpieces compensate -- the killer attacking an ice skater in broad daylight, the killer chasing another woman through a maze-like prop house, and ice-cold final revelation of the whodunit.
**1/2 out of ****
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
NEAR-PERFECT BOND, GREAT BOND GIRLS
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH is a near-perfect combination of plot, action, character, and emotion. It has uncommon depth for a Bond film. In a nutshell Bond finds himself protecting oil heiress Elektra King after the murder of her tycoon father. Inheriting the family business, Elektra determines to finish constructing an oil pipeline through Turkey from the Caspian Sea, which will provide the west with an untapped resource for oil. Unfortunately, she has also inherited the attention of her father's killer -- Renard, a terrorist who cannot feel any pain because of a bullet lodged in his head. As the plot thickens and dangers multiply, Bond finds an unexpected ally in Dr. Christmas Jones, an aloof American nuclear physicist who has witnessed Renard's theft of a nuclear warhead. Eventually, the film climaxes with all the leads converging in Istanbul, where a nuclear disaster is in the offing, unless Bond and Dr. Jones can stop it.
All in all, this was a rich and satisfying flick. All the characters are given some dimension. Even the admittedly underwritten and underutilized Dr. Jones (her part was reduced somewhat in the rewrite phase to give center stage back to Bond) is given a hint of complexity when Bond asks her, "What's your story, what are you doing here in Kazakhstan?" Her reply, "Avoiding those kinds of questions. Just like you." Why is she avoiding these questions? Was she hurt too, like Bond. Did she take the job in Kazakhstan to forget something -- or someone? It's never explained, but I appreciated the writer's efforts to give her some depth. I wish they could have elaborated on that point though. And yes, Denise Richards is miscast. The role needs someone older and with more gravity. However, Denise does what she can with the reduced role that she was given.
However, if Dr. Jones appears somewhat underwritten, it's because Elektra King, the other BOnd girl, is so well-written. As the good girl who goes bad, Sophie Marceau turns her character is dazzling combination of seductive intelligence, sexy wit, and haunting vulnerability. The combo of the European ELektra and American Dr. Christmas Jones is a good one. Although, I think Denise Richards was alright, I wish the role would have been given to Carrie-Anne Moss or Daryl Hannah (as rumored).
Still, a great Bond flick.
Honogurai mizu no soko kara (2002)
ENDING NOT SO ENIGMATIC (SPOILERS)
Some people are baffled by this film's ending, by the choice the heroine makes. But not me. If you have not seen this film, then I suggest you stop reading.
SPOILERS
The heroine decided to "die" with the ghost because it was the best solution, in her troubled mind.
1.) If she stays in the flat with her daughter, then her daughter will eventually be killed by the ghost (as it had tried to do several times) so that it will have a mother.
2.) But if she moves again, she will lose all hope of keeping her daughter, because the courts will see her as unstable. She is in a lose-lose situation.
3.) So she sacrifices herself for her daughter. Giving peace to the ghost, but allowing her daughter to survive.
Definitely an intriguing end to a very intriguing film. Loved it very much.
Swimming Pool - Der Tod feiert mit (2001)
Not great, but not bad--some memorable set-pieces...
If it weren't so determined to copy Scream at every turn, this German slasher flick could've actually been better than it is. A little more polish and care with the script would've made the difference. As it is, it is merely okay. Competent-but nothing special. But at least it's better than crap like I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.
PLOT: A group of seniors graduating from the INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL in Prague decide to break into a lavish indoor water complex to stage an after-hours party before they part ways. Everything is okay for awhile until a masked killer shows up and starts to make mincemeat out of most of the principal cast.
GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE:
Great productions values. The film looks handsome.
Some appealing stars: Kristen Miller (Sarah)as the American heroine, John Hopkins (Frank) as the British party animal/misfit (a James Van Der Beek lookalike), Elena Uhlig (Carmen--the most interesting character) as the cool, icy, and sexy best friend, and Isla Fisher as a doomed Australian goody two-shoes (she also sounds and looks eerily like Nicole Kidman)
Some cool sequences: the death of Svenja on the water slide is already a classic--you'll think twice before going down one again; the silent stalking of Mel through the locker room and stalls will make you wish for stalls that go all the way to down to the floor and don't leave your calves exposed; the chase scene through the vents with the killer turning the vent into swiss cheese with his machete--with the teens trapped in the narrow space inside. The final battle in the pool, with Sarah overcoming her fear of water.
NOT SO GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE MOVIE:
Apart from those few cast members mentioned above, the rest of the actors are faceless and charmless. And annoying as hell. They do what they can, but they simply don't have much to do with their roles. The script should've been better developed. And the guy that plays Greg couldn't act his way out of a swimming pool. Hey, dude, it's not enought that you're good-looking...
Some truly lame lines. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious that this was not written by an American. A couple more rewrites should've been accomplished.
All the bald-faced references to Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer are a turn-off. And some of the character's actions border on the idiotic, even for a slasher movie.
VERDICT: A decent and welcome addition to the post-modern slasher genre. Could've been much, much better. See it anyway, if nothing more than to see how a water slide can kill you. Ouch.
American Gothic (1987)
TSK, TSK, TSK, TSK, (SPOILERS)
A FEW THINGS THIS MOVIE HAS GOING FOR IT...
1. Nice location 2. Atmosphere 3. Uh.... nice location? Atmosphere?
A FEW (OKAY, A LOT) OF BAD THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE
1. Stupid characters: Examples below....
Imagine you and your friends have just emergency landed on an isolated island. To your knowledge, there is no one there. So, of course, you volunteer to stay with the plane, EVEN THOUGH TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE THERE IS NO ONE ELSE THERE.... Obviously, you just want to be alone to get murdered, er, to think, or meditate or have a yogurt. Whatever...
Meanwhile your friends find a house inhabited by a strange -- and I mean STRANGE -- family. For starters, the "kids" are actually pushing fifty but have the mentality of ten year olds. Apparently, your friends are as stupid as you because this does not seem to bother them. Personally, I'd be SWIMMING.
Later, One of your dumber friends gets on a swing that is at THE EDGE OF A CLIFF AND ALLOWS THE 50-YEAR OLD "KIDS" TO PUSH HIM higher and higher until he's doing a couple of impersonations: 1.) Superman soaring through the air, and 2) A stupid man plunging to his death. Actually, the second one is the real thing.
Finally (Oh, believe me there are others, but I'm getting sleepy), two of your friends who are still alive are close to escaping by boat. Just as they are about to climb in, they find a dead body in the boat. Do they help each other to move the body out, get in, and row to safety? No, that would be too easy. THEY FREAK OUT AND RUN AWAY INTO THE WOODS, ALLOWING THE PSYCHOS TO TORCH THE BOAT. Good one.
Bottom line: Atmospheric, but you can get that from a thousand better movies.....