#382: Caché (2005)

Director: Michael Haneke

Cast: Daniel Auteuil & Juliette Binoche

Georges, a public television personality and his wife Anne are being terrorized by an unseen observer. They receive video tapes of their own front door, taken from a distance. The tapes are wrapped in sheets of paper with disturbing, childlike drawings, each with a streak of red across the subject of the image. The couple tries to continue lives as normal, but paranoia begins to eke its way into their personalities.

It's hard to imagine that Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a roll in the making of this film. It's so up his alley that it almost seems like it's 50 years too late in the making, though at the same time has a modern feel to it. I suppose the fear of the unknown is timeless.

Now, some spoilers.

The end of the film at first seemed like one of the most lame ways to go that I could imagine - you don't find out a single thing. You don't know who was watching them, you don't even know the full intention of why a man had killed himself. Majid, whose parents worked for Georges' parents when they were kids, may have killed himself out of guilt or out of pure anger for the way Georges treated him in his childhood. Basically, everything was left open, and you realize there may have been no threat whatsoever to Georges and Anne besides the threat posed by their own fears.

But then! What a surprise I got when I found out that there was a subtle inclusion at the very end of the film that tells us that we haven't half of the story. Majid's son, who played a very minor role in the film, is seen with Georges' and Anne's son amidst a crowd of students waiting to be picked up from school. These two characters have no reason of knowing each other, and who knows what they could be discussing, or what plots are possibly being made by Majid's son.

There are no cheap tricks with this film, and coming out of it is initially disappointing, but this one has stuck with me for days now. While I might not recommend it to everyone off the bat, it's worth a shot.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

In the scene right after the main character leaves Hajid's apartment and hides in a movie theater we can see posters of several European successful films. One of them is "La mala educación" by Pedro Almodóvar, another one is "Les choristes" (2004) directed by Christophe Barratier.

Voted "Best Film of the Noughties" by UK newspaper The Times.

#394: Cloverfield (2008)

Director: Matt Reeves
Cast: Michael Stahl-David, T.J. Miller, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas & Odette Yustman



A going-away party for Tokyo-bound Rob Hawkins is abruptly interrupted when a Godzilla-like creature attacks New York City. Through the handheld camera being held by Rob’s best friend Hud, we witness the initial emergence of the creature, the escape routes from the city that prove worthless, and Rob’s heroic attempt to save his girlfriend who is stuck in what appears to be Trump Tower at Columbus Circle.

The talk about this film before its release was electric – figuratively, and literally. The initial trailer for the film (which I can’t find online, unfortunately) showed only one scene in which the head of the Statue of Liberty comes to a screeching halt on a New York street, with no title or information on the film shown. As its release date came closer, more trailers were released, and multiple websites were created to spur on talk about what exactly the creature was.

The anticipation was worth it. The handheld camera makes the action oh-so-much more intense. Its effect on the overall style of the film is profound, but is brought even further to reality by Reeves’ small choices throughout the film on the reaction of the New Yorkers. The greatest example must be when the Statue of Liberty’s head falls into the street, very few are looking at the iconic image directly – most are looking at it through their camera-phones.

The film has a perfect amount of comedy weaved into the thrilling action, and this comedy is best acted out through Lizzy Caplan, playing Marlena, the sarcastic barely-acquaintance of Rob, and Hud’s love interest. Overall, the cast is good, though nothing particular. It’s really the work behind the scenes that made this film phenomenal.

Get some popcorn and watch this if you haven’t done so already. It’s so worth it.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• The title "Cloverfield"; initially just a codename for the movie, is named for the boulevard in Santa Monica where the Bad Robot offices were located during the making of the film.
• The decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty in the street is inspired by the poster for John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981), which depicts the head of the Statue of Liberty lying in the middle of the street.
• Images from King Kong (1933), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), and Them! (1954) are hidden within the film. Each image is seen extremely briefly, for only a single frame, during a camera edit. The "Them!" picture is shown at 00.24.06, the "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" picture is shown at 00.45.27, and the "King Kong" picture is shown at 1.06.55. A brief clip of Rob and Beth at a train station is seen with the "King Kong" image at 1.06.51.
• According to Neville Page, creature designer - the monster is a baby in a new environment - "spooked" and looking for its mother.

#397: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea & Karl Hardman



While Barbra and Johnny are visiting their father’s grave, Barbra starts to get the willies. Johnny jokes that a man across the cemetery is coming to get Barbra, without realizing… he is, as are thousands of other people who seem to be acting as if in a trance. Barbra escapes, though Johnny isn’t so lucky. She finds safety in a house found a bit off the beaten path, as did a few other survivors. Despite their best efforts, there is no way of knowing how long their barricades will hold…

Who would have thought that such a low-budget film could be so terrifying? I somehow never got around to seeing this classic until today, and even 40 years after it was released, it’s still pretty damn creepy. Ebert actually criticized parents who allowed their kids to see this film, after he witnessed a young girl crying in her seat. The ending is also absolutely awful, leading social commentators to go nuts – though this take on the script was apparently unintended.

Despite being filmed in black and white far after color made its way into the mainstream, the special effects got me a bit squeamish. It probably would have been even worse if I knew that the ‘things’ (which are never called ‘zombies’ in the film) were actually eating ham with chocolate sauce.

This film was ahead of its time. Compare it to Hitchcock, who was the master of horror at this point in time. It’s as if Romero said, screw this psychological crap, let’s just freak the crap out of people! What a classic. Two detached thumbs up!

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

The zombie hand that Tom (Keith Wayne) hacks up with a kitchen knife was made of clay and filled with chocolate syrup.
When the zombies are eating the bodies in the burnt-out truck they were actually eating roast ham covered in chocolate sauce. The filmmakers joked that it was so nausea inducing that it was almost a waste of time putting the makeup on the zombies, as they ended up looking pale and sick anyway.
S. William Hinzman and Karl Hardman, two of the original $300 investors had small roles due to a shortage of available talent. Another investor was a butcher, who provided some blood and guts.
One of the Walter Reade Organization's publicity stunts was a $50,000 insurance policy against anyone dying from a heart attack while watching the film.
Some of the groans made by S. William Hinzman when he's wrestling with Russell Streiner in the cemetery are authentic. During the struggle, Streiner accidentally kneed Hinzman in the groin.
The Evans City Cemetery was the cemetery used in the original version of the film, but it could not be used for the 30th anniversary edition. Before filming the new footage, a tornado had torn through the Evans City Cemetery, and ironically, it unearthed several graves.
SPOILER: The social commentary on racism some have seen in this film was never intended (an African-American man holing up in a house with a white woman, a posse of whites shooting a black man in the head without first checking to see if he was a zombie). According to the filmmakers, Duane Jones was simply the best actor for the part of Ben.

#404: RoboCop (1987)

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Cast: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith & Ronny Cox

The crime rate in a futuristic Detroit has gone sky-high, in particular a string of murders of policemen. The police commissioner has decided that it's time to do something about it. The most promising option is a robotic policeman who will patrol day and night without rest. The first test of the robot goes horribly wrong, but fortunately one man has an idea. He needs to blend the robotics with a human to create a cyborg in order to keep the robot from going ballistic. Soon after, Officer Murphy is the latest to be killed by the gang responsible for the police murders. His body is used to create the cyborg, which slowly begins to remember its former life.

This is a hugely representative film of its time, which is enforced by the fact that it is severely dated. On top of the extremely 80's special effects, script and music, it also continues the trend of films about robots that went wild that decade - I'll call it the RoboBoom. In this time, some of the most well-known robot movies were created: Blade Runner (1982), The Terminator (1984), D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), Short Circuit (1986), and batteries not included (1987), along with a slew of others. RoboCop was not at all original in its creation, having been inspired directly by Blade Runner (and even using the Terminator theme song in the trailer).

Still, this film differs from the others because this robot is made of human parts, rather than built to replicate them. On top of this, as my good pal Roger Ebert pointed out, we realize that Murphy was in fact more mechanized in mentality before he was turned into a robot, and only once he has died and become machine he treasures the few memories he has of his family.

Quintessential 80's, and not a terrible watch.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• The RoboCop suit was so hot and heavy that Peter Weller was losing 3 lbs a day from water loss. Eventually, an air conditioner was installed in the suit.
• The police cars were modified Ford Tauruses. One of the main competitors of the Taurus at the time was the Pontiac 6000. The car the villains use is the 6000 SUX, a not-so-subtle jab at the Pontiac 6000.
• In Sacramento, California a robbery suspect fled into a darkened movie theatre to escape pursuing police. He became so engrossed in the movie playing on screen, Robocop, that he failed to notice that police had evacuated all other patrons from the theatre. When the lights flipped on, the stunned man was taken into custody.

#415: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Director: George A. Romero

Cast: David Emge, Ken Foree, Gaylen Ross & Scott H Reiniger

Soon after the events depicted in Night of the Living Dead, pandemonium has spread across the country. At a television station in Philadelphia, reporters have few facts to report on the cause of the reanimation of the dead. The traffic helicopter pilot, Stephen, decides to hijack his chopper and flee the city with his girlfriend, Francine. They soon encounter two SWAT team members, Roger and Peter, who are clearing out tenement buildings of the undead whose former families kept their bodies in the basement. The four find refuge in a barricaded shopping mall, awaiting for the day when it is safe to go leave the building.

This movie's got nothing on the original Night of the Living Dead. Romero toys with his work, making everything seem a-okay until somebody's head is blown off. It's never quite clear how comedic he intended the film to be, and it doesn't seem all that serious at all. Comparing this to Night of the Living Dead, where there is absolutely no hope left for the survivors, this film was a let down to me.

Only mediocre acting, horrible choices of music (which never help depict what should be dread), not such a great script... the only good thing was the depiction of disembowelment. I promise, my review (which I wrote last night) for Night of the Living Dead will be more positive.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Tom Savini chose a friend to play the helicopter zombie because he was notorious for having a low forehead.
• Tom Savini used the same dummy throughout the course of filming. During that time it was blown up, burnt, shot, and beaten, among other things.
• While writing the script for Night of the Living Dead (1968), George A. Romero and John A. Russo contemplated how they should have the zombies destroyed. Co-star and makeup artist Marilyn Eastman joked that they could throw pies into their faces. This is undoubtedly the basis for the pie fight scene in this film.
• Director George A. Romero has said several times that David Emge's zombie walk is his favorite out of all the Dead movies. He has even gone on to go on to say that the performance is worthy of Lon Chaney.
• SPOILER: Real cow intestines were used in the scene where Sledge (Taso N. Stavrakis) gets his guts ripped out. Tom Savini said that he lived near a slaughterhouse and that's how he got the idea to do the effect.

#435: American Psycho (2000)

Director: Mary Harron

Cast: Christian Bale, ...

Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street investor who seemingly does nothing during the work day but has an incredible, expensive social life, has a dark secret. Beneath his exterior that he so devotedly polishes every day, he is a madman. Beginning with his imagination running wild, berating workers in the service industry in his mind, his control slackens over time, developing his character into a serial killer.

This film is just too easy to compare to In the Company of Men. Douchebag Wall Street-types are creating a genre of their very own, which is a bit terrifying. The misogynistic persona demonstrated by almost every male character in the film, however, was an addition by director Mary Harron. In the 1991 novel, though the characters did have an engorged ego, the book was much more centered on blood lust than sexism.

This was Christian Bales first stand-out role... and possibly his last. He managed to capture both the yuppie-type, the misogynistic bastard, and the serial killer all in one character, and that's certainly not a skill many can master. It's too bad today he's both an only-okay actor with a history of being a big jerk-face.

The first half of this film completely disinterested me, I have to admit. It wasn't really until the twist begins to emerge that I really began to like where things were going. I would have liked a bit more back story. I mean, where did this guys tendencies come from? How did he get so far in life by being so nuts? Of course, it could be explained by the constant belief that he's joking when he discusses his bloody escapades, on top of constant misconceptions that keep arising... but it seems a bit out of the blue.

Still, an interesting, creepy flick. And apparently funny, too - but I know I'm not the only one that took the humor to just make it creepier.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• In the DVD commentary, Mary Harron says that during the first shower scene with Patrick Bateman, all of the women on set gathered around to watch Christian Bale wash himself.
• All of the business cards read "Vice President".
• In each scene with Detective Donald Kimble (Willem Defoe), Mary Harron asked Defoe to portray his character three different ways: 1) Kimble knew Patrick Bateman killed Paul Allen, 2) Kimble didn't know Bateman killed Allen, and 3) Kimble wasn't sure if Bateman killed Allen. Harron would then edit the takes together, giving the audience an unsure vibe of what Detective Kimble thought of Bateman.

#438: The Lost Boys (1987)

Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Jami Gertz, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, Jamison Newlander & Dianne Wiest

Brothers Michael and Sam have just moved into Santa Carla, CA. The town appears to be like a nasty version of Wildwood, NJ. The two discover soon, though, that it’s not just crackheads and deadbeats wrecking this city, but vampires as well. Michael falls in love with a girl, Star, but soon realizes that she is going out with a mysterious head of a gang named David. He undergoes their initiation-type rituals, and without knowing it, has become a half-vampire. Sam is now on a mission, with the help of the Frog Brothers from the local comic book store, to save Michael and kill the vampire clan.

This film is somehow able to combine the best and the worst of the 80’s into one ridiculous movie. Clearly a legend-in-the-making by casting both of the Coreys, the film has become one of the fondest-remembered movies of children growing up in the 80’s.

The story isn’t quite perfect, and neither is the camerawork. And, as Tiffany put it, the main song is partially ruined by the “throbbing man-flesh” filling the screen in one of the first few scenes.

Oh, and Kiefer Sutherland with a mullet is a sight to behold.

One thing that interested me is some sort of anti-Semitic undertones throughout the film. I mean, how can they have named the lead female Star and have her old boyfriend be named David? (If you didn’t pick up on that, she’s the Star of David.) Also, pitting the character Michael (Christian name) against David (Jewish name) is a little bit curious. I suppose there has to be some pro-Christian stuff thrown in with vampire flicks (the cross, etc) but I think they went a teensy bit too far.

Yeah, I don’t really know what else to say about this one.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Kiefer Sutherland was only meant to wear the black gloves he wears as David when riding the motorbike. However, while messing around on the bike behind-the-scenes, he fell off, breaking his arm so he had to wear the gloves through the whole movie to cover his cast.
• Characters in the movie say the name 'Michael' approximately 118 times.

#452: Unbreakable (2000)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright Penn & Spencer Treat Clark

Elijah Price is born with osteogenesis imperfecta, which makes him highly prone to bone damage. When he is given a gift of a comic book collection as a child, he uses ideas from his comics to deduce that if he is on one end of the spectrum with his weaknesses, there must be somebody else out there who is incredibly strong. As an adult, he hears on the news that David Dunn is the sole survivor of a train wreck, with not a scratch on him. Price approaches Dunn, trying to convince him that they are polar opposites, and Dunn is in fact super-human.

This is Shyamalan's fourth film, which I found surprising. I went into it thinking it was his first or second, and I certainly thought it was made before The Sixth Sense (which, in reality, was released one year prior to Unbreakable). I think this film is a step back from his usual style. It's not that the filmmaking isn't good in the first three quarters of the film, but it's not distinctly Shyamalan, which was disappointing. However, Shyamalan's trademark of using colors to represent characters is used distinctly throughout the film, which I always thought was clever.

I'm also never a fan of Shyamalan's self-casting for a small role in each film. He's clearly trying to one-up Hitchcock, but it just doesn't work, because Shyamalan is a crappy actor.

But the film isn't all bad. It's a fun watch with colorful characters, with an interesting (but a bit over-the-top) premise. There's no bad acting - nothing amazing either.

I rank this film pretty equally with Lady in the Water and Signs (I never saw The Village, but I am pretty sure it'd be ranked similarly). These films just weren't as clever as The Sixth Sense for one reason. As we all know, there is a twist at the end of each of his films. What distinguishes The Sixth Sense from the others is that the twist actually changes everything we had believed throughout the whole film, while Lady in the Water and Signs simply bring different parts of the films together.

One thumb up (only partially due to Samuel L. Jackson's hair).

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Osteogenesis Imperfecta is a real but rare disease.
• Several scenes relating to the "Mr. Glass" character involve glass: - as a newborn, he's primarily seen reflected in mirrors - as a young child, he's seen reflected in a blank TV screen - he leaves his calling card on the windshield of David Dunn's car - he's reflected in a glass frame in his art gallery - his walking stick is made of glass.
• Of all the films he's made, Unbreakable (2000) is M. Night Shyamalan personal favorite.
• The film derived from the first third of the original script. Shyamalan felt no connection to the last thirds of the text and decided to discard them.

#482: Scream (1996)

Director: Wes Craven

Cast: Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Rose McGowan, Matthew Lillard & Jamie Kennedy

Spoilers Galore.

How do you perpetuate a genre that's been done inside and out? Wes Craven has discovered the answer to this problem. He's decided in Scream that the best way to create something new in the thriller genre is to confront the clichés of the genre face to face in the film. In doing so, the audience never knows whether Craven decides to stick to the cliché or to take an abrupt turn.

Scream starts off with a scene inspired by Psycho. Drew Barrymore plays Casey, a girl home alone about to watch a scary movie. Barrymore appears to be the main character of the film, being the one big-named celebrity in the main cast, as well as her face being featured prominently on the film's poster. However, she only lasts one scene, before she is brutally murdered. Craven is clearly paying homage to Hitchcock, who led his audience through forty-five minutes of plot before he kills the then-main character.

Craven also plays with the disillusionment of teens in the modern age. Having seen all the blood and guts, movies just aren't scary enough for them. This leads to a unique and disturbing scene in the film in which Randy describes the rules of surviving a thriller. As he finishes listing the rules, he gets news that the school principal has been murdered and hung from the football goal. The majority of the party rushes out and drunkenly hasten to get a glimpse of the mutilated corpse. Although preposterous upon first glance, it doesn't seem all that unlikely in today's bloodthirsty society.

Not only are Craven's modern use of teen psychology impressive, but the plot twists in the film are noteworthy, as well. The twists aren't even overdone. When Billy and Stu are revealed as partners in crime, it only strengthens the explanations behind how the killer moves so fast and unseen.

The camerawork is surprisingly good in this film. Aside from the insane camera angles to demonstrate just how close the killer's blade is to his victims' throat, Craven is also unafraid to turn the camera rather quickly. This creates an optical effect that makes the shots look bowed on the outer rim of the screen, dizzying the audience.

The score is impressive as well. Mainly sticking to traditional thriller themes (imitations of heart thumping, crescendos as a door is opened revealing who-knows-what, etc...) Beltrami even uses hits in the orchestra when absolutely nothing happens, which can be absolutely terrifying. Even with the stereotypical sounds in the orchestra, you never know when it's really going to lead to something.

This film is seriously overlooked. I give it one-and-a-half thumbs up, the half being lost to poor acting, mainly on the parts of Arquette, Cox and Winkler.

I also give Scary Movie a thumb up for making this film into a hilarious romp. Too bad sequels were made. Of both Scary Movie and Scream.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

--- OMG there are so many good ones. Go look for yourself for loads more. ---

• To keep 'Drew Barrymore' looking scared and crying, director Wes Craven kept telling her real life stories about animal cruelty. She is a keen animal lover in real life.
• Wes Craven found the mask in a store while location-scouting in California.
• Tatum's house is right across the street from the house in Santa Rosa, California used in Pollyanna (1960). It is also across the street from the house used in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943). The house in the opening scene was next door to the house used inCujo (1983).
• Billy's surname, Loomis, is the same as that of Donald Pleasance's character in Halloween (1978), which in turn was the name of Marion Crane's lover in Psycho (1960).
• Being a favorite of the writer Kevin Williamson, Molly Ringwald was offered the role of Sydney Prescott, but turned it down, saying she'd rather not be playing a high school student at the age of 27.
• Marco Beltrami landed scoring duties after Wes Craven''s assistant was on an Internet chat site, asking if anyone knew of any fresh musical talent.
• The use of caller ID increased more than threefold after the release of this film.

#485: The Wicker Man (1973)

Director: Robin Hardy

Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento & Britt Ekland

On Summerisle, a small island off the coast of western Scotland, a girl has gone missing. When Sergeant Howie arrives at Summerisle, he encounters a very hospitable and charming village, but something is wrong. Nobody seems to believe that the missing girl has ever existed - even the girl's own mother. As time passes, more and more of the townspeople's strange practices are revealed, until their underlying darker side is finally revealed.

The singular impressive feature of this film is its use of suspense and pacing. From the beginning, Hardy shows us a beautiful northern British culture, pulling us in even further with an authentic-sounding folk soundtrack scored by Paul Giovanni. The realization that the townspeople are hiding something occurs early on, but how can such a happy society hide something as dark as the murder of a missing child? Hardy allows his audience to view Sgt. Howie as the darker of characters, clinging fervently to his Christian faith. It is Sgt. Howie who speaks of rotting corpses, while the townspeople have a light and happy view of reincarnation as hares and other animals. Only at the riveting finale are we finally exposed to the true dark nature of the townspeople.

The Wicker Man has sadly become a dated film, with not much holding it together but the single question: What have the townspeople done to Rowan Morrison? It's easy to say why Neil LaBute decided to recreate this film, though it appears he's been thoroughly unsuccessful in that endeavor (though I can't say - I've never seen it). It's still a very intriguing film, and I'd recommend it to any film buffs out there.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Christopher Lee agreed to appear in this film for free.
• The film gives it's name to a music and arts festival (The Wickerman Festival) which has been held annually in the area where the film was shot (Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland) since 2004. At the end of the festival a giant Wicker Man sculpture is burned as a 'sacrifice to the festival gods'.
• According to director 'Robin Hardy', Howie's final speech is based upon Walter Raleigh's dying words.