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Sympathy for the Devil (2023)
Another one for the Golden Age of Cage
I know what you're thinking. Another week, another Nic Cage film. Another trailer that seems to promise the lunacy of the Cage that we so deeply crave in our bones but will probably fail to deliver right? We have been burned so many times before.
Well, I don't know what type of Cage watcher you are - do you tune in ironically, celebratory or casually? - but, personally, I am more intrigued and pleased by the man's choices and the man's commitment to picking, performing in and producing a truly eclectic slew of films on a mad variety of topics than I am, necessarily, by all the eye rolling, odd, wailing pronunciations and bizarre noggin follicle (hair) decisions... although I am here for that too.
At first when Cage slipped out of the blockbusters and mainstream comedy dramas, that he made his name in, for the world of relatively straight to streaming/video, lower budget fair, I assumed - probably like most of you did - that he was just going the way of the Cusack or Willis. Keeping his hand in, pumping out a movie occasionally to pay the bills and keep the brand alive but his heart was no longer in it.
Well, boy could I have been any wronger?!
Cage's choices have seen him work across genres, with some of the most interesting directors and writers out there - trying to give each one of them a break as he does so (I'm sure) and while many will have written him off as someone people just enjoy ironically - and there are probably just as many who embrace this about his work - it is this mid-tier world - hovering somewhere between true low budget, homemade stuff and the bloated, computer generated, unsustainable, ludicrously budgeted world of Hollywood - that has given us the character driven, unusual idea driven, genre driven, script driven, weird cinematography driven and even taboo subject driven films that people rave about from the 70s, 80s and/or 90s (pick your recent "Golden Age" of choice) - you know, the ones that people claim loudly on Twitter that they don't make anymore.
Being a website that is more likely going to review these kinds of films over a studio movie (because big corporations would rather spend millions on old fashioned, manual advertising than, hopefully, interesting, home grown word of mouth) I have been privileged to see and review a ton of these movies and while I certainly, often, approach them hesitantly, I have to say, I have been impressed more than I have been disappointed, over all.
So, to Sympathy For The Devil, what's it all about then and is it any good?
Well, actually, I'll save you any further waiting or suspense, I enjoyed the hell out of it.
It plays out almost entirely as a two hander and so if you're looking for that film where Cage gets to give goofy line readings while, basically, spewing forth tasty monologue after monologue, with an appropriately ludicrous hair do and all the rolling, goggly eyes he can muster, then this is the film for you.
But this is far from just a ton of enjoyable Cage grandstanding and not much else. The performances, the well written script and the superb, Americana, neon hued, cinematography help to make this taught, compelling, slowly unraveling thriller - with what, initially, may seem like an obvious conceit - rise above its slightly 90s straight to video style, Tarantino rip-off trappings.
It's also one of those films that succeeds, with its conclusion, to impress you more than maybe it does while you're in the middle of it. Not that the twist is revolutionary or anything but it is neat, well played, and incredibly apt considering the title of the film and the way the narrative plays with the audiences shifting allegiances. What could have come off as just a clever but empty writing exercise, reveals itself to be storytelling as a fun, tight rope walk where either side of the rope it could fall into cliche or predictability.
Between this, Renfield, Mandy, Color out of Space, Willy's Wonderland, Pig and the criminally underrated The Trust, we are living in a golden age of Cage... Long may it continue.
Intrusion: Disconnected (2020)
An engaging, brutal slasher throwback that packs as many emotional punches as it does physical ones.
I was very lucky to be one of the reviewers to see the film before this release and I am very happy to report the sequel surpasses the original and crafts an unnerving psychological and emotional experience.
The cast and crew have created a taught, gritty, relentless slasher film that pulls no punches and feels like a throwback to the brutal intensity of the classic horrors of the 1970s. Excellent acting, engaging writing and a great soundtrack make this THE indie horror of 2020.
A special mention to writer/producer Craig Everett Earl who has put his all into the film and every bit of it shows on screen. The script wonderfully balances old school slasher thrills, surreal and nightmarish apparitions that plague our final girl Holly and a surprisingly strong emotional gut punch.
Intrusion:Disconnected is one of those rare indie horror films that makes you care and feel for the characters and their, often, nasty and upsetting fates. It's surely what sets this film apart from others who just play to the gore & nudity crowd and forget to write characters.
The two lead performances, especially Katie Stewart, are superb. Holly is put through the emotional and physical wringer in the movie and Katie Stewart matches the movie's demands beat for beat and presents a fully fledged, deep and rich character who you root and hope for despite those hopes often being dashed by the evil and unforgiving blade of the menacing and creepy Lee Haycraft.
Herschell Gordon Lewis' BloodMania (2017)
A fantastically fitting and grungy send off for the Godfather of Gore
Herschell Gordon Lewis is a name that should be far more familiar to horror and film fans than it is, he basically invented gore and splatter films. His films were also always laced with a sense of humour and, in particular, satire.
In BloodMania, his last directorial effort before his untimely and sad death, he plays host to four short tales of the comically macabre and diabolically bloody. He also directs two segments and writes one.
I am very happy to report that for a low budget, independent anthology film, BloodMania is a sheer delight. Gorehounds will love it, horror fans will love it, HGL fans will love it and indie movie fans will love it. Hopefully a few curious viewers will stumble upon this and love it too!! It has all the bloodletting, humour, horror, scares, weirdness, monsters and maniacs you could want, plus, of course, PUNS galore!
It's also tightly directed, with fantastic "have to be seen to be believed" effects, a strong, enjoyable cast and a couple of rocking tunes!
It is a fantastically fitting send off for the Godfather of Gore and one that cements his legacy as a joyous jester of the jugular and the ballsy baron of blood that films so sadly lack these days. We needed Herschell and him, along with his wonderful cast and crew, delivered with the awesome BloodMania!
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018)
Look beyond the title. This film separates the true genre fan from the annoying rabble.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot has become a polarising film between the "I wanted schlock I could ironically enjoy" and the genuine genre fans who realise that horror, sci-fi and pulp has always been about more than just the schlock factor. It shows that some genre fans either don't want to think or hate being forced to think.
Now don't worry, this movie gives you someone killing Hitler and someone hunting, tracking, wrestling and killing Bigfoot. In fact it gives you all the B Movie thrills you could want but just like Bubba Ho-Tep isn't about The Mummy, TMWKHATTB is really about our definitions of heroism, violence and death don't kill ideas, lost love, learning to live again after a tragedy and many other things.
It's an intelligent, emotional, funny, beautifully shot... I mean BEAUTIFULLY shot film with one of Sam Elliott's strongest ever performances. His acting in this movie clear blew me out of my seat. The effects are great too with even some
matte paintings and a man in suit monster. Man I just loved the hell out of it! If you didn't you have no soul and probably a fairly small brain.
The cast, the director, the script and the ideas in the film are all superb and I can't wait to see what they do next.
Just don't go in expecting the same old - man fights Bigfoot movie - I mean, come on, there a million and one of those of varying quality, why would you hate on this film for doing something different and utilising Sam friggin' Elliott so well.
This is a genre film in the style of John Carpenter - it'll give you the business but it'll also make you think. If you don't like that then I don't know what to tell you.
Rent or buy this today!!!!
Mandy (2018)
THERE'S A CHAINSAW FIGHT AND A NIGHTBEAST REFERENCE, WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
Mandy is the latest indie darling/art-house horror/Nic Cage film that is setting the internet ablaze and movie critics reaching for the hyperbolic adjectives. It's almost the perfect film for the current generation of movie goers: it's arty enough for the critics, hip enough for the nonchalant, above-everything crowd, gory and violent enough for the hardcore genre fans and it stars Nic Cage so even the "oh my god he's just so crazy", "so-bad-it's-good" meme makers are happy.
Mandy tells the story of loving couple Red Miller and Mandy Bloom. Living in the Pacific north west in 1983, Red (Cage) works as a forestry worker while Mandy (Riseborough) is an artist and works in a local shop. Their idyllic, private and quiet life is soon torn asunder, in a vile and brutal way, by a drugged up, hippy, religious cult, accompanied by three insane bikers. Cage then goes all mental and revengy on them, having borrowed a cross bow from a random cameoing Bill Duke and forging his own, both futuristic and ancient, scythe/sword thing.
From there it gets violent, bloody and darkly comic and features a recurring tiger motif, genre homages a plenty and a legitimately groovy chainsaw fight.
So let's get into it then. I like Nicolas Cage as an actor. Not in an ironic way, not in an aloof way but just in a genuine way. Does he occasionally over act and does he ever give strange line readings? Yes - see almost any decent actor out there. Actors can become personalities, parodies of themselves and while that might improve their brand, it tarnishes their talent. Will you be a Christopher Walken and acknowledge it but just continue doing what you've always done or will you be a Jeff Goldblum and go full maximum Goldblum, letting it define you? Well I think Cage is sticking on he Walken side of that equation.
He does too many movies and the roles are too diverse for you to ever pigeonhole the Cage method. Contrary to popular belief he is not an Eric Roberts, taking any single film idea offered to him. When you look through his filmography and actually watch a few of the films (as opposed to just ironically watching The Wicker Man remake stoned and laughing or sharing memes of his hair in Bangkok Dangerous) you'll find an actor in the enviable position of working in whatever genre likes, telling weird and wonderful stories and having tremendous fun into the bargain. He's not beholden to Hollywood narrow-mindedness or to fan pressure to just keep doing one type of thing. Not many people in the business can claim that.
When it comes to Mandy, also consider these two bits of information:
Cage was offered the role of the manic, charismatic and egotistical preacher Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache). This is the obvious Cage role, in a movie with barely any dialogue, Jeremiah has all the pontificating, grandstanding and mood-swinging we've seen Cage do previously. Cage instead pushed to get the role of Red Miller, a role that director Panos Cosmatos intended for a much younger actor. Now, Red Miller has his moments and there is definitely a drizzling of unhinged Cage in the film but the role is also defined by its silence and by its screams, not its dialogue or its mania.
I have heard reviews single out a bathroom sequence, where he drinks vodka while in unimaginable pain, as Cage doing his "thing". I didn't find the sequence "classic weird Cage", I actually found it understandable, moving and disturbing.
The film really hinges on us following his journey both emotionally and physically. Like a silent film, Mandy relies on its visuals and action to tell its, relatively, limited story and allows for audience interpretation and extrapolation. If Nic Cage's performance doesn't work, if you're not gripped by his plight and pushed forward by his determination for retribution then none of it really works.
The second bit of information is that during an interview with filmmaker Kevin Smith, Nic Cage admitted not only to watching Panos Cosmatos' previous film Beyond the Black Rainbow but to watching Kevin Smith's "walrus movie" Tusk. No one mentions the "walrus movie" in an interview unless they've actually seen it. Smith was talking about Valley Girl, if Cage wanted to simply repay the compliment he'd say Chasing Amy, Clerks or something he might have watched at a film festival once. No, Cage dropped Tusk, that tells me a lot about Nicolas Cage.
Andrea Riseborough as Mandy says only a few things in the movie and, spoilers (not-really), the plot involves her exiting the film early on. What we can ascertain, however, is that she is peaceful, detached, likes art, fantasy novels, 80s metal, sci-fi films (more on that later) and living out in the middle of nowhere. An unexplained scar on her face and her quiet removal from society indicates maybe some past trauma but that is never developed upon.
More than anyone else in the film, her character's apparent passions and taste define the influences on the film. The strong, deep, vivid colour palette of the cinematography, the cinematic references, the metal album cover references, the designs of the bikers and even a few animated sequences all seem to flow from what we see of Mandy Bloom during act one of the film.
The other cast member that definitely deserves a mention is Linus Roach as Jeremiah Sands. While no clear philosophy or message comes through his babbling preacher and variety of messed up followers - a hodge podge of crazies, true believers and lost and damaged souls - Sands is a frustrated musician, ego maniacal lunatic, mood swinging abuser and deluded psychopath. On the surface he's just an amalgam of any other clichéd cult leader but, as previously stated, Mandy is short on exposition but shows you just enough of any character that you can extrapolate most of what is trying to be portrayed. The true genius moment of his character is when he puts on his record, hoping that his drippy, psychedelic, pastiche folk stylings will impress Riseborough's Mandy. For those in the know about music and cult leader cliches it is a belly laugh moment.
Panos Cosmatos definitely wrote and made this film for people who have seen films like this before but who, probably, haven't seen one presented like this before. In other words he trusts a savvy audience to fill in some of the blanks. I think the artistic sheen on the movie, and clearly very deft cinematic skill with which it's constructed may push some to believe the film is deep in someway but, don't be fooled, this film is an exploitation film pure and simple. Just because they skimped on character and plot explanations, shot it with a bunch of lights and filters, scored it with tension building rumbles and high, unnerving synth tones and left wide gaps for the audience to fill in doesn't mean there's some hidden message or explanation there. It just means Panos Cosmatos knows how to construct a good genre film. He knows that in most horror, action and/or exploitation films you point the audience at a bad guy, put the good guy through hell and with that justify the carnage filled journey of our anti-hero for the remaining 70 minutes.
I'm sure there are reasons for some of the tiger imagery and some of the vaguries in the film but its driving force is exploitation, cool moments, grusome kills, mad weaponry, Argento style lighting, movie references all over the shop and hip t-shirts.
An easy criticism would be to say it is style over substance and it is, it's glorious, arresting, eerie, difficult, dark, disturbing, mad, violent, deeply coloured and surreal style over substance.
There was one scene, however, that sold the whole film to me and made me love it unequivocally - what are you talking about Jon? The chainsaw fight? are you talking about the chainsaw fight because that scene is off the chain! - No, I am not talking about the epic chainsaw battle, although that scene is, indeed, off the chain. I am talking about a sequence that'll probably mean very little to a lot of people but allow me to explain why the Nightbeast scene in Mandy is EVERYTHING.
During the opening 15 minutes of the movie as we meet Mandy and Red, see their life together, there is a sequence where the two of them watch a sci-fi B Movie together. They eat TV dinners, at separate tables and do not take their eyes off the TV screen. A TV Screen which is showing Don Dohler's Nightbeast.
Don Dohler is the Baltimore native filmmaker who made alien invasion movies, mad horror/action films, straight-to-video slashers and naughty vampire films in the quiet suburbs, at the end of a nondescript cul-de-sac, in Maryland.
Unfortunately, in this age of snarky 'so-bad-it's-good' film fandom, some of Don's films have been either derisively enjoyed or simply dismissed by some people. This is a crushing shame because when you look passed their limited budgets and occasional amateur moments, you find a passionate, creative, inventive, weird, gonzo and original series of homemade masterpieces from a person who followed his dream. He should be an inspiration to the backyard John Carpenters and basement Hitchcocks of today - in fact in his home town of Baltimore he has been and indie filmmaking thrives there.
This is why the scene in Mandy where Nic Cage and Andrea Riseborough sit so seriously and intently glued to Nightbeast is the best scene in the film. They don't laugh, they don't mock it, they are genuinely into it and this tells us b-movie fans all we need to know about their relationship. I am the first to admit that low budget filmmaking is not for everyone but when you find that person who will, un-cynically, watch a Don Dohler film (or similar) with you, then you have found true love and a soulmate. When I saw that scene, I understood the film. In lesser hands the couple would've watched The Room and laughed at it in an ugly, derisive way and I would've hated it....
The Horde (2016)
A delightful blend of throwback 80s and 90s action and horror
The Horde is to be applauded. Applaud The Horde.
Pause for applause.
"Why is it to be applauded?!" I hear you cry, well, there are many reasons.
Mainly because 1) It is an independent film that puts practical effects above terrible CGI 2) It mixes the kind of fun, straight to video martial arts I miss from the 80s and 90s with the sort of surreal, gory and mad horror I miss from the 70s and 80s 3) It is enjoyable and doesn't take itself seriously without trying hard to be ironically so bad it's good. 4) All the "cameo" or supporting players do an amazing job chewing the scenery - especially Vernon Wells in his sequence. 5) It's lit and set designed really well.
If you had to pitch The Horde to your genre loving friends in a sentence then it would be "Rambo versus The Hills Have Eyes" or "John Matrix versus the Wrong Turn inbreds"
The Horde feels like a film made by genre film fans for genre film fans. It skirts around the edges of being knowing, having cinematic frames of reference and certainly aiming to attract a midnight crowd but not only is it apparent, from the fight set pieces to the practical special effects, that a huge amount of dedicated work and craftsmanship has been put into making it but it's also having immense fun just being an entertaining, adult, tearaway, violent, gory romp.
When I first put the film on I had no idea what I was in for. I assumed it was going to be just another zombie film, probably because of the french film of the same name. In fact, the name of the movie could've been given a little rethink, not just because it is a familiar name of other films and a computer game but also because it doesn't sit completely right, for me, with what happens in the movie (but that's a small nitpick).
Initially the film was reminiscent of some of the later entries in the Friday 13th franchise. The early slasher kill sequence, the set up of the cliché youthful characters, the purposefully weak innuendoes about sex, the improbable excuse to go into the woods in the middle of nowhere, the forced dialogue etc. Have to admit, it had me a little cautious that this was going to be a difficult movie to get through. Remember, I had no idea what the film was about or what was about to happen. I also need to indicate that if you're an 80s horror fan, you'll be no stranger to this type of dialogue.
It wasn't till we got to the Don Wilson cameo, followed by the barroom brawl, and meatheads were taking flying kicks to the face that I sat up and my mind changed.
I am a huge 80s and 90s action fan and also a huge 80s horror fan and so what happened next appealed to me greatly, especially once the night-time roller-coaster of carnage and mayhem got underway.
The main cast of the kids and the teacher are a mixture of newcomers and up and comers. They all handle themselves fine. Two of them aren't given much to do but make out and talk about making out, but that's sort of to be expected, two of them have a little more to do as they seem on the brink of a relationship but are also a little more down to earth, nervous and normal teens.
Sydney Sweeney, whose part gets considerably more challenging as the film goes on, does well with the softer, sweeter dialogue in the earlier part of the film and her small scene with Tiffany Brouwer is a stand out before everything gets dark and nasty.
I am not sure if being affectively annoying and punchable is something to be praised but Thomas Ochoa, with the equally punchable character name of Riley St. Claire, is highly successful as the spoilt, rich daddy's boy who doesn't have a kind word to say about anyone and who can't stop gassing on about all his money. It's quite timely really as he is like a skinny, young, dark haired, effeminate Donald Trump.
Rounding out the main cast is our hero, the aforementioned, Paul Logan. He wrote the film, produced it, stars in it and did the fight choreography. That's very, very impressive and I doubt the man had much sleep. Doing multiple jobs like that on a lower budget movie means long days, short nights and not much sitting down. His fighting style is watchable and accomplished. I felt it could've been served better with a different shooting style and slightly better editing but it definitely got the point across and made for some entertaining rumbles.
For those in the know, the supporting cast is a who's who of action and horror stalwarts that are having a wonderful time chewing the scenery and tearing up the screen.
The last thing to be said on The Horde, which I hinted at earlier, is just how refreshing it was to see an indie genre movie of this kind use real make-up effects, proper design, lighting and set dressing, great stunts, martial arts and so on. A lot of modern films lack that authenticity and it always makes a movie, in my view, when I can see strange, wonderful and creative ideas, designs and effects on the screen.
The movie has just about a little bit of everything. It is violent, gruesome, gory, disgusting, sexy, fun, enjoyable, weird, surreal and action packed. A B-Movie in every sense of the word. With a more dynamic director and a snappier, tighter edit this film could really be a new cult favourite. As it stands it is a valiant effort, with some highly enjoyable ideas and moments, practical effects and stunts galore. I'd watch a sequel.