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Reviews
V/H/S (2012)
Overrated, Over-Hyped and Over-the-Top
Once again a horror movie emerges that is presumably a horror-fan's dream come true. As with "Blair Witch Project" and "Insidious" and others of their ilk, audiences are being told by obviously easily-frightened critics that this is the real deal; a terrifying roller-coaster ride of honest-to-God nightmare-inducing horror. That would be a nice blurb if it rang true for this film and not too far off from adjectives already afforded this movie from reviewers who obviously thought V/H/S is truly something special.
I didn't. In fact, V/H/S is about as instantly forgettable as a made-for Sci-Fi Channel movie.
You already know the set-up; five stories emerge from a dead man's room full of monitors. Each story seems to salute a particular horror theme, and while the five stories are promising at the outset, other than the first story, these mini-movies fall way short of delivering what you hoped they were going to, or were certainly capable of doing. In fact, as separate entries, the stories are more like 'fragments' of more complete films, and some of these with an abrupt ending, actually come off as a little movie that has run out of ideas and just ends, which caused confusion and frustration for me.
Now, if you want graphic gore, nudity, sexual content and wall-to-wall profanity, then you'll like this. If you want visceral terror, you will get just a few brief shots. if you want scares, this film has virtually none. Do some of the stories resonate in your mind after viewing? Not for me. When the film was over, I could only sigh and shake my head that a strong cast and promising ideas are wasted within scripts that just don't come together, or fell flat at the pay-off point. Basically this is yet another American sad excuse for a horror movie.
Sadder still, is that some truly terrifying recent horror films like "The Children" and "Babysitter Wanted" are ignored, while "V/H/S" is gaining the kind of attention and acclaim; unheard of since "The Exorcist", which it doesn't even come close to.
Gutta Boys (2006)
Great acting, but not so great script.
Ultimately I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. The entire cast are uniformly excellent but the script is far too compact, silly and unsettling for comfort.
The lead kid is a decent actor and he plays the weak 'follower' to the letter, but the writers wait until almost the end of the series before he finally stands up to his extremely angry and dangerous best friend, whom were supposed to believe is really a nice kid but his dysfunctional parents have made him so angry that he has become a defiant little criminal-in-the-making.
Close on his criminal heels is his friend the 'follower' who also has a problem with authority and pretty much says and does what he damn well pleases ... until almost the end of the series when we get an "aw shucks" bit of predictable sentiment. The problem in, this is too complex of a story for its own good and the writers attempt to wrap it up in a sweet feel-good ending, came off to me as naive and just plain insulting to the potential that was there.
Another issue I had was with the parent characters, Am I to believe that in Norway, parents don't have a clue in how to discipline their little adolescent brats. Even when their kids have been involved in criminal behavior, it is still treated like an episode of the Brady Bunch.
Only this isn't Bobby putting an umbrella through dad's convertible roof, this is kids building bombs from on-line instructions and stolen military blanks, jumping from seriously high and dangerous cliffs, shooting steel-tipped arrows into the air and then playing chicken as they jettison back down and indirectly being responsible for a serious injury one character, and what could have been death to another.
Apparently the Norwegian police are as dumb as the parents in the film, because despite catching boys in criminal behavior, they seem OK with the little munchkins just getting grounded by their clueless push-over parents!
Overall I found this show to border on irresponsibility and wallowing in implausibility. If this is an example of what they serve up in Norway as a family-friendly mini-series, then we're in trouble. The sad thing is, I have seen some great Norwegian feature films that unlike this poorly written short-lived TV series, actually boasts intelligence and substance.
Too bad, because the cast is so great; if only they had a script that honored their talent.
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Like a small-town spook house, with room after room of lame scares.
Steven Spielberg was reportedly so creeped out by "Paranormal Activity" that he had to watch it in two sittings. I seriously have to question that, but then again I know that there were many people totally and completely freaked out by "Blair Witch Project," so perhaps Mr. Spielberg really did get his nerves singed by yet another Camcorder movie.
And then there are the multitude of on-line horror zines that are raving about this movie like its the 'second coming' of horror movies, going as far as saying that it is the scariest film of all time, second only to "The Exorcist." That's a pretty grandiose statement to make, considering that since "The Exorcist" there have been many very scary films released from all over the world. For my money Hideo Nakata's "The Ring" is the true champion of scarier-than-hell movies, followed by Bob Clark's "Black Christmas" and then "Halloween." Just my two-cents.
Warning! Spoiler Ahead!
We all know what the story behind "Paranormal Activity" is: a woman is convinced that she has been followed by some kind of restless spirit since childhood. Her live-in boyfriend, half-convinced that she is delusional, sets up a video system to hopefully capture the 'entity at play' while they sleep. He even goes so far as to challenge this 'thing' to show its colors. Enough said. You know where it goes from there.
Admittedly the back story and the initial execution is intriguing and I actually liked the way the film did some interesting things with slowly developing tension, with just a hint as to what is around the corner. But about a third into it, the movie decides its time to get scary, and 'every' scene that is supposed to be scary, starts off with the same exact sound effect and a superimposed reminder of what day it is. Big mistake. That became annoying. There was no reason to alert us visually to the painfully obvious, and that in itself drained some of the power of the film.
Even more annoying is revisiting the concept that Camcorder guru's will keep holding on to the Camera almost constantly and certainly when things get freaky. When you're scared or being menaced by what is obviously 'paranormal activity,' you drop the Camcorder with the endless battery and get out of there. The same problem that I had with "Blair Witch", I have with this film. People just don't do and act like real people. But yes I know, it's a horror movie and we have to suspend disbelief for the sake of getting scared. But sometimes a movie asks or requires way too much patience and suspension of disbelief, and I don't buy it.
As the film reaches the end, things start to pick way up, and that's when "Paranormal Activity" jumps into hyper-speed and tries very hard to scare us silly. It didn't work for me, simply because we have seen all of this before and the final shot is a rip-off of numerous American and especially Asian horror films that have run out of ideas and then resort to a cheap 'jolt' instead of something that leaves us unsettled.
"Paranormal Activity" has a few interesting moments and I didn't find it necessarily boring. I tried to like it. I tried to stay with it. I tried to care about the characters, so the inevitable horror would really hit me hard. I tried, but no cigar. Before the film was over I completely disliked the characters and the film just did not succeed in creeping me out.
As for giving us anything original, forget it. Just about every scary moment has been lifted from other horror films, notably "The Entity," "The Amityville Horror," "Poltergeist" and of course "Blair Witch Project."
In conclusion, "Paranormal Activity" is not a complete waste of time. There are some entertaining moments and I enjoyed the sarcasm of the boyfriend. I will contend that there were a couple of pretty effective chills as well, but "Paranormal Activity" is the scariest movie since "The Exorcist?" Hardly. A deceptive and over-hyped movie that somehow has garnered undeserved acclaim and attention? Absolutely.