Extraordinary Tales (2015) – movie review

Extraordinary Tales (2015)

Directed by Raul Garcia

Stories by Edgar Allan Poe screenplay by Raul Garcia

Starring:
Christopher Lee
Bela Lugosi
Guillermo del Toro
Roger Corman

This is an animated collection of five Poe stories. For the most part modern animation styles take a back seat and the styles of more intrinsic art are brought to life for the tales. They each carry their own distinct visual flair applied to Poe’s source material. We have the squared-off and skewed shapes in The House of Usher, the stark black & white imagery and cutting lines for The Tell-Tale Heart (in artist, Alberto Breccia’s style), and the graphic novel/Creepy magazine style of The Masque of Red Death. Voice overs and narration are done by Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi, Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman and Julian Sands, amongst others, who each provide their unique expression to the benefit of the atmosphere. Lugosi is here courtesy of an old recording/reading remastered for the Tell Tale Heart segment. The wrap around concerns a crow in a graveyard talking to Death. The conversation between them leads us into the stories. Everything is backed by classic musical compositions by Sergio de la Puente with additional music from Javier López de Guereña. I’m surprised this has such a low rating, but with its gothic origins and gloomy mood, I guess that should be expected.  The stories are edited into shorter form than Poe’s original works but they work well with the animation. Also included are The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar and The Pit and the Pendulum to round out the best tales from the gothic master. For someone who grew up reading horror illustrated comics such as Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, and Heavy Metal Magazine, this is a pleasant throwback to a similar storytelling and visual style. Revisit Poe’s most popular tales with animation worthy of artistic merit in this fine collection.

This gothic animated film heralding the work of Edgar Allan Poe provides gloomy, yet interesting entertainment.

I give it 3.9 cringe inducing, caterwauling, death wails out of 5 on the gothic haunting horror scale.

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parlor of horror – horror movie reviews

Crimson Peak (2015) – movie review

Crimson Peak (2015)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

starring:
Mia Wasikowska
Tom Hiddleston 
Jessica Chastain
Charlie Hunnam
Jim Beaver

 

Crimson Peak is an adult fairy tale. It is populated with an innocent dreamer, an evil sister-in-law, a castle, a romance/love affair, and a hero. Oh, and it has a few ghosts. If you’re expecting a straight up horror film you will most likely be disappointed. It has aspects of horror, a mystery and a psychological thriller, but if you think of it as anything different than a fairy tale, you will probably not enjoy the film.

The first 40 minutes is a high drama and a murder mystery. It sets up the second half of the film. It successfully captures the upper echelon society of NY in the early 1900’s in mood and atmosphere. I suppose some viewers will find this boring. However, I, having firmly grasped the notion that I have been born in the wrong time period, love the atmosphere of other eras and I find the film’s dramatic events endearing to my sensibilities. The three main actors, Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, and Jessica Chastain, turn out genuinely striking performances and it was just fun to watch them adapt to the people they portrayed.

The plot points are somewhat predictable as all gothic stories follow a similar pattern. The film is beautifully dark with deep, rich colors and slow languid camera movement, creating an appealing visual palette. Although the ghosts are CG enhanced, they work well in the lush and vibrant colors of the film. The impeccable costume of the period also sells the story and adds to the visual splendor of the film. Rounding out the high production values was a powerful classical soundtrack by composer Fernando Velázquez. I liked this film and felt heartache for the tragedy that the film presents. Like all fairy tales the calamities mirror real life and I felt the weight of missteps a person can take in life.

A gothic fairy tale of high quality with adult themes and a suspenseful ending.

I give it a solid 4.0 ghastly, ghostly, nasties out of 5 on the haunted horrors of the fairy tale castle scale.

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fun facts:
(from IMdB)

Jessica Chastain learned the piano for the movie and performed all songs in the movie by herself. She had previously learned the bass guitar for Mama (2013), where Guillermo del Toro was the producer.

Visually, Guillermo del Toro wanted the film to look like a Mario Bava Technicolor movie.

 

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parlor of horror – movie reviews

Pacific Rim (2013) – movie review

Pacific Rim (2013)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Although this film falls into the trappings and pitfalls of a summer blockbuster style film, it is much better than most other US made giant monster films in recent years. Lots of action, lots of monster & robot brawls in the middle of the city – smashing things, breaking things – what more could you ask for? It was modeled after Kaiju films but was ultimately Americanized – perhaps a bit too much. Nevertheless, the action scenes are stunning. Rich colors and BIG scope make Pacific Rim a visually amazing film.

All the Top-Gun stuff has become standard in many of the later Godzilla movies and even that one female pilot on a personal vendetta because her parents/ brother/ grandparents were killed by Big-G has become a familiar storyline. The monster attacks at night were a homage to early Kaiju films. Godzilla only attacked at night and the same with Gamera. The rain masks some of the digital quality of the CG and I didn’t mind that. I did think the scientists were a bit much, I didn’t find their scenes all that amusing but many Kaiju films often have silly sub-characters. The scientist’s scenes were hokey but kept to a minimum.

We watch giant monster movies mainly to see all-out monster brawls and monster destruction. I think further character depth would have just slowed down the action. If you want character depth watch a Scorsese film. You want Monster & Robot battles, watch Pacific Rim. The characters of Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam), Mako (Rinko Kikuchi) and Stacker (Idris Elba) were inspiring in a ‘Independence Day’ way. Every time a Jaeger beat a Kaiju, the audience in the theater cheered. What part of the action would you cut out to add more dialogue and character development? I’m glad Stacker’s big speech was short and I’m glad the film wasn’t three hours.

The scene of Mako as a child, running through the empty streets calling for her mom and dad, with the crab-clawed Kaiju hunting her down was awesome. It was the highlight of the non-battle parts of the film. The little girl basically stole the show.

One thought about the monsters and robots. You can either accept CGI as the modern special-fx method and embrace it with the knowledge that some directors and filmmakers are going to be better at delivering it than others – OR – you can dismiss it and not see any new movies. If you choose the later, you’ll be missing out on some fun monster films. The choice is yours. After seeing Jurassic Park, can we really go back to a guy-in-a-suit, stop-animation/claymation, or clunky puppetronics?

So, the big question is, do I like Pacific Rim enough to purchase the blu-ray or dvd. The answer is yes. I will most likely purchase it, but it will have to be on sale or at a discount price. I will put it in my newer giant monster film section which includes; Monsters, Tremors, Host, The Troll Hunter, Cloverfeild and Q-The Winged Serpent. I will watch it from time-to-time, but not as often as I would watch King Kong, Godzilla or Harryhausen films.  Of course, I am a monster film fan. Those of you that are lesser fans of monster-mania would probably be better off just waiting until this is shown on TV, cable or Netflix.

related articles:

Robots in Film – a complete pictorial history

My Top 10 Robots in film and TV

Mama (2013) – movie review

Mama (2013)
Directed by Andres Muschietti

No spoilers J

Mama starts with an investment banker on a suicide mission. He kidnaps his two daughters and brings them to the country, with intentions of completing the removal of himself and family from the dismal existence of bankruptcy, jail, and utter failure. When reaching their destination, my first thoughts were, oh no, it’s the cabin from Evil Dead. The older child can sense a presence in the cabin and is reluctant to enter but is reassured by her father. Something goes wrong with the father’s plan and the two young girls, Victoria and Lilly, are left to fend for themselves, or are they?

We are then introduced to the brother of the investment banker, Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), and his punk rocker girlfriend, Annabel. Five years have past, but Lucas has not given up the search for the two girls. By a stroke of luck the children are found. After some lawyer grappling with a surviving aunt from the mother’s side of the family, Lucas is awarded custody of his nieces. The two wild children go to live with Lucas and Annabel. Naturally, the presence from the cabin has come with them.

An interesting tale unfolds with a strong back-story containing its own plot twists as it is revealed through the investigation by the girl’s psychiatrist, Dr. Dreyfuss. The two young ladies play wonderfully convincing parts and I was fully engaged with their plight. The punk rocker girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain), is left with much of the duty in bringing these girls back to reality and she makes the biggest transformation in character, from non-caring punk rocker to surrogate mother of the children. However, there is another entity that claims ownership of these girls and is not going to let them be taken away so easily.

The spirit is creepy as hell – too tall, with fingers that are too long. Her long hair rises, waves, and flutters, as if by its own will. Mama is a twisted, malformed, contortionist, with a hideous face and wicked eyes, determined to keep these two children with her. The spirit’s warped sense of right and wrong makes her dangerous to all who stand in her way.

At its core, Mama is a classic ghost story, so some of the plot-points and outcomes are predictable. But that doesn’t make it any less creepy or enjoyable to fans of supernatural horror. In the last fifteen minutes, the story twists into a sudden overwhelming sadness, and no matter what the outcome, you will feel bad for all the parties involved. So, when leaving the theater, I was more melancholy  rather than fearful, which to some, could ruin the overall effect of the film. Muschietti shows his love for Guillermo del Toro films with this aspect, but I can’t help thinking it may have been better to leave the audience in a fearful state instead. Despite some drawbacks, I would still recommend it to fans of supernatural horror and ghost stories.