Reviews

Vampyr (1932) is a gothic horror movie that was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. It tells the story of Allan Gray, a man who takes up lodgings in a small inn in the village of Courtempierre. Gray has a particular interest in the supernatural. Shortly after arriving at the inn, he starts to feel uneasy as if a sinister force is descending upon him. In the middle of the night he is suddenly awoken by an old man who tells him 'she must not die.' The mans daughter, Leone, has been bitten by a vampire and in order to break the curse, Gray and Leone's sister, Gisele must find the sire vampire and drive a stake through its heart.

The atmosphere of Vampyr, partnered with its visual effects, make it one of the creepier horror movies from the 1930's that I have personally seen. With minimal dialogue, the tone of this movie stayed extremely intense for almost the entirety of its runtime.

I would recommend this movie to anybody who enjoys gothic horror or creepy, dark movies.

Elephant (2003) is a crime thriller that was written and directed by Gus Van Sant, better known as the director of Good Will Hunting.

The phrase 'Elephant in the room' is an idiom used to describe a problem that everyone chooses to ignore and not face the reality. The phrase is also used to describe issues that are looked at as social taboos such as homosexuality, race, religion, and mental illness. The titular Elephant's in this movie are the shooters; two homosexual teenagers that are bullied and ignored by their peers.

The story revolves around several high school students as they go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent. Almost all of the kids in this film were non-actors who used their real first names for their characters. In my opinion, this, and the fact that most of the script was improvised makes the movie feel a lot more realistic than if the cast was filled with well known actors.

To me, Elephant is an exposé of how actions that people think have no effect, can actually have ones beyond measure.

My favourite thing about 'Elephant' was Van Sant's direction. The long hallway shots. The repetition of the same scene from different points of view, and the movement of the characters was really well done.

Elephant was released in 2003, 4 years after the Columbine Massacre, which was Van Sant's biggest inspiration behind the film. It caused a lot of controversy upon release, due to it being so soon after the tragic event.

The Graduate (1967) is a film directed by Mike Nichols, which stars Dustin Hoffman as Ben, a man who starts an affair with his parent's friend after she tries to seduce him. Ben is stuck in the in-between, after graduating from college and struggling to decide what he wants to do next. As their affair persists, Ben starts to realise that he may just be making a mistake. Enter Elaine, the beautiful daughter of Ben's lover, and chaos soon ensues as Ben tries to navigate the love triangle he has found himself tangled up in. The Graduate has one of the best soundtracks to a movie that has ever blessed my ears, written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon & Garfunkel. The Sound of Silence, Scarborough Fair and Mrs. Robinson reprise throughout the film and they become more and more meaningful and relatable as the movie goes on. I definitely recommend this classic for the soundtrack alone.

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) is a crime movie starring Frank Sinatra. The story revolves around Frankie, a man who has recently come home from prison and is trying to get his life back on track. During the span of this movie he faces a lot of struggles and bumps in the road to recovery as he tries to steer clear of his past drug addiction and criminal ways. But can he escape his past when the people from it always seem to be right there to remind him of where he left things?

The Deer Hunter (1978) is a psychological thriller about the effect that the Vietnam war had on a trio of friends. Robert de Niro and Christopher Walken play their parts fantastically and the famous Russian roulette scene had me on the edge of my seat. The criticism I have of this film is that the hour long first act wasn't needed at all and it could've been trimmed down to make the movie go by a little quicker. Robert De Niro was the stand out for me.

Häxan, aka Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) is a silent film documentary that explores the origins and history of witchcraft and it's pagan roots. Some of the imagery here is rather creepy and lingers in the brain long after viewing, such as a baby being help over a cauldron, a close-up of a man getting his finger chopped off and multiple torture devices being used. I was really impressed by one scene in particular which involved a stop-motion demon ripping a door to pieces. That was REALLY good effects for the 20's. The Devil looked great too!