MovieComment

Wolf Creek

Posted by Player under Horror

If you read my review of Hostel, and thought that the film might be too gore oriented and not have enough suspense, then perhaps you should consider Wolf Creek instead. Unlike Hostel, Wolf Creek is a well rounded film with good dialogue, incredible cinematography, and developed characters. It is essentially the tale of three college aged friends. Liz (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy (Kestie Morassi) are young British girls on vacation and their native Australian friend Ben (Nathan Phillips) is trying to show them the cool sites. They end up going deep into the outback to look at a giant crater named Wolf Creek. This is when the landscape and desolation of the Australian Outback starts to show itself in the film, and you can’t help but think how vulnerable people really are in the middle of nowhere. Ben’s car breaks down of course and in the middle of the night they are rescued by an outback man, who agrees to tow their car to his home and repair it. The film soon turns very dark, as Mick is no ordinary outback man, he’s a serial killer! John Jarrett’s portrayal of the homicidal outback man is so great, I’m sure they will probably make a Wolf Creek 2, as the character is that frightening!

Wolf Creek does take a while to develop into a suspenseful horror film, but once it does, the film does not disappoint. Most of all this film was shot in Hi-Def Video and it looks absolutely amazing for being such a low budget film. Suspense fans will appreciate the look and feel of the film, while horror fans will love Mick’s trademark laugh and sadistic nature. In all there is something for everyone to enjoy in Wolf Creek.

Hostel

Posted by Player under Horror

This weekend was horror movie weekend for me as I took in the delights of two major films. The first reviewed here was Eli Roth’s Hostel, a delightful movie for horror and gore fans and then the more dramatic and suspenseful Wolf Creek. To begin with Hostel is a film that does not take itself too seriously, because it’s part American Pie slash Euro Trip and then becomes something more horror oriented, along the same lines of Saw, (that is if Saw was actually a better film than it is, which it is not). The story starts out with three guys looking for action in Europe. The two Americans are Paxton and Josh and their new buddy Oli who is from Iceland. Josh is the sensitive guy and Paxton is the strong one, while Oli is the funny guy who enjoys playing jokes on everyone. The three get a hot tip from a guy that there are hot women in Slovakia and that they are totally available. Our heroes find themselves on the first train to Slovakia, only to discover that yes there are hot women to be had, but that Slovakia is also one strange place.

Eventually the horror begins and Hostel becomes one very upsetting film. The torture devices are brought out and limbs are cut, stabbed, burned, and even surgically operated on. Our one hero left is Paxton who is taken prisoner himself and who needs to find a way to escape and seek proper vengeance on these evil people.

I must admit the film does make you want to look away in some places, but at the same time it poses such interesting and fun questions. What other movie would feature children killing in broad daylight? And what a genius idea by a director to depict children murdering for bubblegum?

At the end, it helps that I could sit down and watch the three part documentary of the making of Hostel and see that this was all fake and that Slovakia is not at all the murderous place that Eli Roth depicts in the film. As a whole Hostel has sub par acting, lots of nudity, plenty of blood and gore, and some incredibly bad lines, so yes, it is an awesome film.

Razor Blade Smile

Posted by Player under Horror

Eileen Daly stars as Lilith Silver, a vampire and contract assassin that is sinfully erotic. Razor Blade Smile is a great vampire movie that does not take itself too seriously, and which many reviewers called wonderfully camp. It is also one of my favorite low budget films that I happen to watch last year.

The story is pretty simple. Lilith Silver is made into a vampire over 150 years ago and has learned to cherish the vampire life, even delighting in the blood orgasm that her victims become. There is even an eroticism to dying well which she elaborates on as she kills her gothic friend in what is perhaps one of the most sexual lesbian vampire scenes ever filmed. But Silver is complicated too, and her emotions are drawn in multiple locations including her male friend who takes care of getting her new contract jobs. In the background though is a secret society of masons who are trying to trap Silver.

The visuals in the film are not stellar, and some of the special effects will not impress, but what Razor Blade Smile really features is a different view on the vampire theme. I was actually impressed with the sound quality of the DVD release more than anything. Usually sound is terrible is low budget films, but Razor Blade Smile really has quite remarkable audio quality.