All Hallows Eve Approaches…

For a primarily American tradition, Halloween is well known in Australia for trick-or-treating, costumes and scaring yourself silly with horror movies. The level of exposure here is thanks in most part to the multiplicity of American television and movies screened here every day.

In celebration of the impending pumpkins, skeletons and ghosts and the brilliant new film Black Sheep I am devoting this month to HORROR.

As a teen I too was, not surprisingly, swept onto the bandwagon of watching horror flicks late into the night. It saddens me that the genre has lapsed over the past few years. The Ring and Wolf Creek are probably the best horror films I’ve seen of late… But the overall quality and quantity of horror has severely waned.

Okay, so horror isn’t everyone’s thing. It’s formulaic, gory and more often than not haunts you for days afterwards. At least, that’s what good horror should do. A genuine horror movie should scare the living daylights out of you. A common criticism of horror used to be that it was too gory with blood literally flooding the screen. But with everyone desensitised to gore, regularly exposed to forensic visuals on CSI type programs, blood and guts has long since taken a back seat. Lately, the formula has moved towards clichéd twists, to the point that you are expecting some twist which inevitably spoils the twist. These might be relegated to the thriller section were it not for the perfunctory ‘creatures’ thrown in. That said, some recent films have returned to supernatural or science fiction themes – curses, demonic possession, zombies, vampires, lichens, aliens.

The latter has always been a popular medium and I still count Alien and Aliens amongst my favourite films of all time. They continue to instil fear in new audiences even though they were made over 2 decades ago. The anticipation fear factor is the key in Alien. I’ll always remember a story my parents told me about one of their first dates. They went to see Alien and after an hour glued to the edge of their seats and at the crucial moment, the guy sitting three rows in front of them suffered an epileptic fit – mirroring the horrific scene occurring on screen. This poor man emptied the theatre in record time!To get a really good scare out of a horror there needs to be considerable tension, gore and that eerie accompanying music. You can always rely on the classic horrors for a good scare such as:

• The Shining
• Halloween
• Nightmare on Elm Street
• The Candyman
• The Exorcist
• Carrie

The number of grown adults STILL terrified of clowns can surely be attributed to Tim Curry’s portrayal in IT. It amuses me which particular subcategory of horror people fear. Though I must confess that ANY werewolf film (no matter how unrealistic the special effects – e.g. An American Werewolf in London) has me too frightened to put the bin out after dark. I suspect I’ve never fully recovered from my childhood fear of Gmork, the wolf in The Never Ending Story.Horror should make your flesh crawl from the tension and at times the gore should horrify you. But a common criticism levelled at horror is that it is simply too predictable. Since studying film construction, this has become especially true for me and thus I have rarely been genuinely frightened in many movies.
However, all that ended recently when I came across a real stunner, relatively new to the weekly shelves.What should you get??

THE DESCENT

Before giving you the basics, I have to say I found this film disturbing. It is claustrophobic and has a true jump factor throughout even from ordinary things. As my favourite reviewer suggested, the pitch black surroundings serve only to heighten the genuine feeling of paranoia.

And as a marketer by day, the graphic design of the cover is the most innovative and impressive I’ve seen in years.

PLOT: After a tragic accident, six friends reunite for a caving expedition. Their adventure soon goes horribly wrong when a collapse traps them deep underground and they find themselves pursued by something savage and bloodthirsty living in the caves. As fear erodes their friendships, they find themselves in a desperate struggle to survive the creatures and each other.

DIRECTOR: Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers)CAST - Relatively unknown as is usual for horror: Shauna Macdonald (“Spooks”), Natalie Jackson Mendoza (“Hotel Babylon”), Alex Reid.

LOCATED IN: Horror section

FOR MORE HORROR SEE:

• The Ring
• Arachnophobia
• The Blair Witch Project
• I Know What You Did Last Summer
• Scream

TOP TIP

Really experience horror:
Leave the lights off and watch after dark and don’t watch the special features until after the film. They nullify the jump factor. After all, if you know how it was done, it’s a lot less scary.

Blink and you'll miss it

Bored? Need some excitement?Have you ever had one of those weeks where your life just needs a bit of jolt? Some people look to sky diving or bungy jumping to fulfil their adrenalin rush requirements. Now, my hesitation at this is thus…. You can DIE, plunging toward the compact earth without a working parachute or pause button!One of the great things about a movie is you can escape the daily routine of your own life by living someone else’s for a few hours. And with a DVD, if it gets too scary, you just pause, make yourself a cuppa (or a scotch!) and go back to it (I think I did this three times during Wolf Creek!).

I strongly recommend taking a wander through the thriller section of your local DVD store. There are scores of nail-biting, multi-twist, edge-of-your seat experiences waiting to go home with you. And thrillers tend to have something for boys and babes alike.The genre tends to fall into a number of sub-categories, the most popular of which are the ‘Whodunnit’ and Protagonist/Antagonist plots. Classic thrillers included Silence of the Lambs, and, of course, the master, Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, Psycho, Rear Window, North By Northwest etc. Because this has been such a popular genre since film’s inception, many movies over the past decade have simply skipped cinemas and passed into obscurity. Sadly, some of these are terrific and deserve a look. I have stumbled across a number of absolute gems over the years. And as this is my favourite genre and TV has been pretty ordinary of late, this month I’m giving you two recommendations.

What should you get??

BLINK

PLOT: Emma hasn’t seen since she was 8, blinded by her mother in a violent rage. Finally, after 20 years on the donor list and thanks to corneal implants installed by her kindly eye surgeon, Emma’s vision, though blurry, returns. But she begins to suffer a side effect, ‘seeing’ things hours, even days, after they have occured. Then, just days after her surgery, her neighbour is brutally murdered. As the only witness, Emma tries to assist with the investigation but is rebuffed by Detective John Hallstrom until the murder matches the MO of a series of killings he’s already investigating. Emma’s delayed vision reeks havoc on her life as the killer begins to stalk her. Will Emma be able to identify her pursuer before he finds her? And will Hallstrom get there in time to save her?

DIRECTOR: Michael Apted (Amazing Grace, The World Is Not Enough)CAST: Madeline Stowe (The General’s Daughter, 12 Monkeys), Aiden Quinn (Legends of the Fall, Benny and Joon)

TRAPPED

This is another of my favourite thrillers. It boasts a stellar cast and stars real life couple Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend. Terrific performances all round but worth mentioning Pruitt Taylor Vance’s deliberate, almost lovable portrayal of Marvin and Kevin Bacon’s sinister villain will make your skin crawl. Watch for the scene with the seaplane - it has me riveted and breathless every time! PLOT: Will and Karen Jennings are the perfect couple. Karen put Will through med school and now they are reaping the rewards of Will’s successful medical research project. But while Will is at a medical conference their daughter, Abby, is snatched from within their home by a professional kidnapper. Joe’s plan is perfect: an accomplice kidnaps the child of rich parents and holds them overnight, he keeps the mother under control, while another accomplice collects the ransom from the father. But this time things go very wrong. Abby is severely asthmatic and Will and Karen will do anything to ensure their daughter’s safety, including turning the tables on their assailants.

DIRECTOR: Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman)CAST: Charlize Theron (Monster, The Italian Job), Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned, About Adam), Kevin Bacon ( Mystic River , The River Wild, Wild Things), Courtney Love (Man on the Moon), Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds, Man on Fire).PS – With Charlize to perve on it shouldn’t be hard to convince the boys to join you for this one!

BOTH LOCATED IN: Thriller section

FOR MORE THRILLERS SEE:

• Wild Things
• The River Wild
• The General’s Daughter
• Murder by Numbers
• The Devil’s Advocate
• Se7en

TOP TIP
Clean the DVD with a soft cloth before you put it in the machine (the one from a glasses case is perfect). Hired DVDs are notorious for fingerprints that will affect the quality of the image (i.e. pixilation). Doing this before will prevent you having to stop at a crucial plot moment to clean the disk.

Last of the Mohicans

Has this ever happened to you? You want to see a movie. You’ve checked out what Margaret and David and the local rag have to say about the latest cinema releases but you’re less than inspired by the insipid options available this week. Next stop, your local video store for a DVD.

But now comes the ultimate quandary…What should I get and where the hell is it?? The number of times I’ve observed people blindly wandering the aisles of my local video store with (now cold) takeaway, so bewildered by the many options they simply grab a new release and walk out with something they aren’t going to enjoy or have already seen. Even if you do have time to wander, this dilemma is made doubly frustrating when you need to get one both babe and boy will enjoy (especially if, like me, your boy won’t even consider something without 007 on the spine!) Now you could look to the DVD store promo material for a guide. This would be fine except that they tend to hammer the latest overnight releases in a bid to get you to spend more. And unless you’re looking for the latest disc of The OC or until a plot summary is available in the search option on the computer system, you’ve got Buckley’s of getting a decent recommendation from the pubescent clerks. I remember once asking a clerk, after a particularly heinous day at work, for a romantic, period drama and having her click her keyboard like an airline booking agent only to come up with, “Titanic?” as if I was the only person on the planet that hadn’t seen it yet!


There are some real gems waiting for you in the weekly sections that both babe and boy alike will enjoy. I can recommend a number of these to you. Now I could try and earn back my film degree and go off on some tangent about the artistic merit of a film but there are about a thousand internet sites and newspapers with reviews of that ilk. It’s par for the course to provide a cinematic review as advice on a movie. You know, the ones that rattle off terms like “sweeping cinematography”, “this is a self indulgent project from director [whomever]”; sometimes they’ll even cite a director you’ve heard of. But these do not indicate whether you will enjoy the film. Just because you enjoyed Titanic does not mean James Cameron’s Aliens will be the same experience for you. In fact, it’s probably highly unlikely!


As such instead of ‘reviewing’ a film, I prefer to liken a movie to other films it reminds me of. One of the best reviews I have ever read (although meant as a criticism) stated that Master and Commander was simply “Gladiator on water”. Having loved the latter, this constituted a rave review for my father who promptly went out and saw it twice!


So what should you get??
LAST OF THE MOHICANS

About ten years ago there was a spate of period dramas saturating the cinemas. One of the best of these which slipped under many people’s radar was Last of the Mohicans. While it is a beautifully constructed film what you need to know is the following:

PLOT: As English and French soldiers battle for control of the North American colonies in the 18th century, the settlers and Native Americans are forced to take sides. Cora and her sister Alice are almost unwitting victims of this violent war until rescued by Nathaniel, an orphaned settler adopted by the last of the Mohican tribe. As Nathaniel, and his native father and brother attempt to protect the women romance develops.The film has plenty of great battle scenes with enough strategic combat, betrayal and blood to satisfy the boys and the romantic subplot will keep you enthralled too without the guys wandering off mumbling ‘chick flick’.DIRECTOR: Michael Mann ( Miami Vice, Ali, Collateral, The Insider)CAST: Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York , The Age of Innocence), Madeline Stowe (The General’s Daughter, Twelve Monkeys)

LOCATED IN: Drama Weekly sectionFOR MORE BATTLE/ROMANCE MOVIES SEE:

• Dances with Wolves
• Braveheart
• The Patriot (Mel Gibson version, not Steven Segal!)

TOP TIP
Ask the clerk for a reminder tag to be slipped under the plastic cover. It reduces the risk of “What day was that due back?” syndrome. Remember, the advantage of a weekly is that you have 7 whole days to avoid being stung by late fees (or as my significant other complains, “What it would’ve cost if you’d just bought the damn thing!”)

Inaugural blog

So here we are...
The inaugural FlickChick blog. Okay, so I'm going to cheat. I intend for this in future to be an outlet for my frustration at having the ability to rattle off as much film information as possible and no job prospects in which to do it. As such I will continue to pay the bills through gainful (though boring) employment but fulfil my every filmic desire here.So the cheating comes in with my first post. I am going to upload all my columns for the Babes in Business network in Brisbane so you can get a feel for what I'm about. Any questions? Post them.