Reviews

This review contains spoilers.

I saw the low ratings for this movie but decided to watch it all the same. Why? Three reasons: I live in Los Angeles and always love recognizing movie locations, it is a found-footage movie which I generally like, and finally, it was only 90 minutes long.

I think, by going in with low expectations, this movie was not bad at all. There are English three women ("Sophie," "Jessica," and "Lisa") visiting California. Sophie is a travel vlogger. All three look about 25 - 30 but act like teens and the dialog is pretty silly. In my mid-30s, I regularly went on wonderful road trips with two male friends and freely admit that our conversations were just as silly, or worse!

The girls meet two guys near the iconic "Hollywood" sign and bring them back to their rental place to hook up. I would consider this risky, but again, plenty of people do it.

The Lisa character notices that her phone is missing. Where did she leave it? Maybe someone took it? Also, someone is leaving them strange, hand-written notes. Well, the theft suspicion is confirmed when they later start receiving incredibly obscure texts (meaningless combinations of numbers and peculiar riddles) from Lisa's phone.

They attempt to drive up to San Francisco but end up in a non-descript motel in the middle of the desert. It becomes apparent they are being stalked when they find a fresh note at the motel. An obnoxious man they meet there becomes the primary suspect... and they are murdered that same evening by a man wearing a spooky mask (a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre.)

The movie then ends with this message: "#JusticeForSophie ... The FBI believes the killer could be one of Sophie's two million subscribers."

I did not like this ending since there was no reveal. Who was the killer? What was his motive? He wore a mask and we don't know. But there again, even if he had removed the mask, it wouldn't satisfy us since the only men the women met were seemingly harmless (with the exception of the obnoxious guy at the motel.)

While watching this movie, I did notice two clues, if I might call them that. The first was when the women were leaving LAX (the airport.) Some guy walking the other way bumped into Lisa very hard, causing her to react angrily. It had the appearance of him taking something from her. Possibly her phone? It makes sense, and I think this might have been placed in the script as a clue, but was never fleshed out. The other thing was when the TV news was broadcasting a piece about the "Cryptic Killer" who was still at large after murdering many women. The numbers and riddles coming from Lisa's phone were cryptic enough... so the Cryptic Killer was behind this? But here again, it was never fleshed out. We have no idea who the killer was, or what his reasonings were.

I don't think this movie was terrible, but I would not watch it again. Also, I don't think I would recommend it. It's watchable, and it shows a lot of locations in and around Los Angeles.

Warning -- Spoilers!

I went into this movie with high expectations since it had a good rating. Also, I like the Scottish Highlands. I am left sorely disappointed.

The acting is mostly okay, I guess, and the countryside is beautiful. I am sorry this is the only good I can really say.

There were far too many situation where people did things that made absolutely NO SENSE. Here we have two young American women hiking through desolate hills without cell phones. I grant that one of them had a hidden agenda... but the other so easily complied? Then when they know that a man is spying on them from a nearby hill, the woman pulls up her shirt and waves! The next day, they go to a pub and meet two strangers. They leave their beers unattended to get the drinks "roofed."

Later on, one woman points a gun at one of the bad guys while standing two feet in front of him - he can practically touch it! The man suggests that the woman check the corpse on the ground to see if there's a pulse... When she bends down, he snatches the gun. Big surprise!

There are myriad scenes where someone is pretty sure they had killed an adversary. They turn their back with relief only to have the "dead person" jump up to attack again.

There was an excessive amount of squirting blood in the fighting. People's faces were regularly covered. It was too much and a sad waste of tomato sauce.

There are serious timing problems. One example: When one guy draws a man out of his house, the woman is supposed to enter it to see if her friend is there. She goes in and walks around so slowly. She drops her coat on the floor before slowly climbing the stairs. Why not hurry it up? The man would likely return at any moment!

Finally, too many bizarre coincidences. The woman escaping from the bad guys spends a night alone and resumes hiking the next day. She passes the very cottage that the bad guys are living in and sees one of them on the back porch. He also sees her before going inside. Why didn't he chase her? Why didn't she run to get the police? But no. She approaches the cottage and spies on the man through the window. Perfect timing, since he gets stabbed by someone in the cottage!

This movie would have been MUCH more enjoyable if the characters were smarter. I get annoyed when I see someone does something unrealistic and dumb. I guess when it comes to slasher movies, common sense is not so common.

Spoiler alert!

This movie was well done and the acting was quite solid. The year is 1999 and the place is Chicago. A man, James, grieving for the disappearance of his girlfriend, Hannah, a few years ago buries himself in his work as a film editor. He also regularly attends group therapy sessions with other folks processing their grief.

While reviewing a video from the late 1980's, James stumbles on a strange 'intrusion' of several seconds. Someone wearing a mask in a darkened room is wailing at the camera. There is a lot of background noise. Very strange and intriguing.

James decides to follow up and find out the source of this illegal broadcast. Along the way, he meets a Dr. Lithgow who reports there were two (or possibly three) such broadcasts. The FCC, in their search to find the perpetrators, has come down hard and confiscated as many copies of this video as they could find.

Some odd characters come out of the woodwork to warn James about these videos. He also learns that he is being followed by a strange woman named Alice. He ducks into a bar and she follows him inside. Alice will only reveal what's up if James agrees to get drunk with her.

From this point, we venture into more strangeness in James' obsessive pursuit of the source of the broadcasts. From the dates, James figures out there is a connection to disappearance of Hannah. There is a storage shed containing nothing but a rotary phone and an old answering machine. This leads them to a P. O. Box.

They then find the perpetrator... or do they? James doesn't think so. Alice however does and then vanishes that same evening. Incredibly, James the next morning barely notices or cares.

I am convinced that what we are really watching is James' descent into madness. It is all of his grief which is manufacturing some solution to how Hannah vanished. I wonder if Alice and Dr. Lithgow even exist! Poor James is losing his mind. The movie seems to end abruptly without resolution.

This documentary reveals the plight of several Roma families (otherwise known as Gypsies) who had been forcibly evicted from their homes near downtown Sofia in 2001. Why? The entire location was cleared and replaced with a large supermarket.

The Bulgarian government moved these families into "temporary" lodging: a horrible shantytown without proper sanitation. And now, ten years later, these families were still waiting for the government to fulfill the promise and place them into proper housing.

There were plenty of church groups and government officials who were trying to help this situation, but not much could be accomplished. In Post-Communist Bulgaria, money is tight. Among the filth and despair, we find a young Roma girl with a gangrenous leg that needs to be amputated. Few of the children attend school and even fewer can read or write.

Interestingly, for all intents and purposes, these gypsies ARE Bulgarians. It was their forefathers who had travelled from India centuries ago to settle in Eastern Europe. And because of that, these folks have darker skin and live segregated from everyone else. And the cycle of poverty continues, generation after generation.

In spite of the harsh message, we could see the laughing children constantly playing games. They are happy. And the adults live their lives with quiet acceptance and occasional humor. They have accepted their fate.

I found it interesting that things were actually better for the Roma under Communism. As the great 'equalizer,' everyone was treated more equally; but under Capitalism, there are winners and losers, and these are definitely the losers. Still, at the end of the documentary, we learn that the government moved the families into apartments by 2012. They got their housing after all.

In Polish with subtitles.

This movie caught my eye on Netflix. Curious, I decided to watch it. Noticing also that it did not have an IMDB review, I wanted to "take one for the team" and write one. Warning: This review has spoilers. I normally avoid writing spoilers, but in this case, I could not imagine revealing only part of the story without exposing the ending.

The title, Spiral, refers to the spiraling down of depression. That is at least my interpretation.

Part I The events start in the snowy mountains. The scenery is both beautiful and gloomy. The lone protagonist (Tomasz Piatek, played by Jan Nowicki) drives his car to a desolate parking lot and silently tosses his keys away. He is obviously not returning. He then hikes up to a large wooden lodge of hikers. They are festive and Tomasz mingles, engaging them with bizarre conversations about life's meaning and our human fear of death. They are friendly and tolerate his quirks, even though he is prone to weird outbursts and inappropriate advances. One woman especially, Maria played by Zofia Kucowna, repeated turns him down. Tomasz has no climbing gear and did not even reserve a bedroom. He wanders around, bothering the guests, until he retires to the dining area. Everyone goes to sleep. Lights off.

Part II The bright morning reveals that Tomasz left early to hike alone and took little protection from the elements with him. A few hikers form a search party and go looking for him. People ask each other who knew 'this strange guest' the best, and it appears that nobody did. Someone decides to check the parking lot to see if Tomasz had maybe left instead, though there is uncertainly as to which car belongs to him. They confirm his car is there.

A search party climber suffers a minor accident during a steep climb which forces the folks waiting in the lodge to summon a helicopter instead. The search party gradually comes back down as the helicopter flies around the area looking for any signs. And they find him! Tomasz is sitting near one of the peeks in a squatting position to keep warm. The helicopter lands and the crew determine that Tomasz has frostbite. They place him on a gurney and fly off. The folks at the lodge are relieved that Tomasz was found before freezing to death.

Part III Several weeks have passed and we are viewing the confines of a sanitarium. The head psychiatrist, played by Alezsander Bardini, explains to a classroom full of students how Tomasz had a seemingly full life but was unable to enjoy it and that is why he tried to kill himself. Tomasz now spends his days in bed or walking around the facility wearing his hospital pajamas. His right hand is fully covered with a large bandage.

The woman at the lodge, Maria, visits Tomasz to see how he's doing. Strangely, he seems angry with her. He is also despondent that the doctors could not save his right hand. He shares his hospital room with another patient who complains that Tomasz has received preferential treatment. After all, how much did the helicopter flight cost used in the rescue? The roommate complains a lot.

Maria consults with the psychiatrist telling him that she intends to visit every day. She asks how long Tomasz has got left, and the psychiatrist answers with a few more days. Maria intends to visit each day that she can, much and all as it seems there is no point.

Tomasz is walking down a hallway and passes the morgue. He sees that the fresh corpse on the table is the complaining roommate. The orderly shouts at Tomasz to leave, who then goes outside to cry. The following day, he opens a large window on the second floor and climbs onto the sill. He removes his bandage exposing a red hand and then falls to his death.

In the final scene, we have Tomasz's lifeless body viewed from above as people run out of the sanitarium to find him. They are in shock.

This review contains spoilers. Consider yourselves warned...

The charming town of Bisbee is located in southern Arizona. I was lucky enough to visit the place several years ago. Though not very large, it offers a nice hotel, some galleries and cafes, all with an Old-West backdrop. I highly recommend it.

The movie "Bisbee Cannibal Club" is about a group of cannibals that reside in Bisbee. They are very particular about their food - they only want to dine on vegetarians (vegans in particular), so they hang around the local vegetarian restaurant and scope out suitable prey for their next feast. The restaurant is not large, and often they are sitting very close to their next victims, as they engage in their own musings over how the victims will taste.

As more people start to disappear, another group of folks take notice. A quick stop for research at the local library determines that the disappearances are caused by cannibals picking on vegetarians. So, this group now calls itself the "Bisbee Cannibal Hunters" and decides to find the cannibals.

Since Bisbee is such a tiny town, it turns out that the cannibals live just two or three houses up the street from the hunters. Convenient, to say the least. And another thing: When any following is done (either by cannibals or hunters) nobody ever notices, even when the person is ten feet behind.

It was sometimes difficult for me to distinguish cannibals from hunters, since they generally looked about the same: 30-something roughneck bikers, all acting tough. Their music was loud and they drank heavily. They also liked firearms; lots of them.

The vegetarians, on the other hand, looked different: much softer and sensitive in appearance. When they were not eating tofu, they would go to poetry events and recite the worst spoken word I have ever heard. I was not sorry to see their numbers diminish.

So, at the end of this movie, there is a huge shootout at someone's house and only a few hunters are left standing. All the cannibals are dead. The hunters then decide to try some of the "steak" that the cannibals had been cooking. Quickly realizing that it was the best they ever had, they now turn into cannibals themselves, which is perfect timing since a visitor shows up who tells them he is vegan.

This movie was clearly shot on video and the editing was passable enough, I suppose. There were some day and night sequences that were hard to follow. (One case in point: Someone hiding outside at night was looking in a window; we then see a daytime event; we then go back to the man outside at night. Did a full day pass?)

There was a "garden" somewhere outside of town where people were burying bodies. Unclear where that was, or what was going on. And of course, as all this mayhem was going on, the other townsfolk seemed oblivious and the police were not interested.

It kept my interest long enough to watch to the end. I give it a 5.