Tremors (1990)

Tremors is a classic B-movie monster movie, and one of my all-time favorite films. Set in a small Nevada town called perfection, the film mostly revolves around to local handymen, Valentine McGee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward). The two soon realize that the residents of the small are not alone in the baron dessert valley, when they discover a giant thirty-foot-long underground worm. 

Ward and Bacon suit their characters perfectly, Ward being the grumpy old redneck and Bacon the cocky young cowboy wannabe. My favorite character, however, has always been Burt Gummer (Micheal Gross). A local gun enthusiast who had previously been mocked by the towns folk for his lifestyle, soon becomes their lifeline. My favorite scene of the whole film is the one when one of the Graboids breaks into Burt's basement, and he, and his wife Heather kill it with a hail of bullets from their sizable gun collection, with Burt eventually finishing the creature off with two blast of his Elephant Gun.

Burt and Heather Gummer

The practical special effects in the film were groundbreaking at the time and still look convincing to this day. You won't see any CGI in this film, which is a refreshing change, there's nothing like good honest practical effects. The only film that I can really compare it to in terms of practical effects is The Thing (1982). 

The film is a mix of comedy, monster movie, and western. - an unlikely mix of genres that works perfectly in this case. The comedy in the film comes from Val and Earls constant wisecracking, and also the over-the-top reactions and statements of the crazy gun-nut Burt. As well as comedy, the film has some genuine 'make you jump' moments - which are well-timed and put together. Everything happens at a brisk pace, maintaining the tension throughout - hence the 90 minute running time. 

Tremors is a quick, fun, action comedy horror, which has cemented its place as one the best monster movies ever made (in my opinion).

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Enemy (2014)

Enemy is a dark and strange slow-burner, and one of the most boring films I've ever seen. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a disheveled history teacher who, while watching a movie at home, discovers a man that looks exactly the same as him.

At no point do the two men attempt find out how they look alike, exchanging birth dates, birth certificates, or ask their parents etc.. Which would be the natural reaction after making such a discovery.

He sets out to find this man and find out how this is possible. They meet, and he discovers his identical opposite is in effect his nasty alter-ego.

His opposite number then blackmails him into a night with his wife. That's basically it... the proceeding hour before that dragged out arduously, with Gyllenhaal shuffling from place to place, every night having sex with his girlfriend in his dump of an apartment.

I just understand the message the director was trying to get across, be it in an obscure and arty way. I'm a fan of indie and art cinema, but this film just didn't do anything for me. I'd also love to know what those spiders symbolized..?

The films only saving grace is it was well filmed, with a dark, melancholy style. Other than that Enemy is a strange, dark, gloomy and extremely boring indie film, which is neither interesting, clever or entertaining.

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The Sacrament (2014)

The Sacrament is the third feature from Ti West, and is basically his take on the Jonestown massacre. The film follows two journalists shooting a documentary about a man's attempt to locate his missing sister. They  find her in a rural cult preparing for a mass suicide.

The two journalists are airlifted to a remote area in the forest and then driven by truck to the cult's camp. When reach the gate, they are greeted by three angry African men armed with machine guns (which doesn't put them off entering the camp). They are greeting by the man's missing sister, who is happy, a little too happy...to see them.

Soon after their arrival the journalists are invited to a town meeting by the leader of the camp, a man the cult members call "father". At the camp meeting the journalists interview the charismatic cult leader, where he tell them about his belief in the rejection of western values, capitalism and modern technology, and warns the journalists not to give the group a bad write-up in the paper or divulge any info on the camps location. Much like all cult leaders, "father" makes out that the camp is a utopia of sorts where the people are truly free. It turns out, however, that all is not well in utopia. 

The one thing that irritated me was the stupidity of the journalists: even after his friend is abducted and killed by the cult leader, one of them remains - trying to find the groups photographer and the man's missing sister. A one point he tries to escape on a chopper, only to be fired upon by the armed guards. So where does he flee to..? the woods, to a find a road maybe, the sky, anywhere but back to the dam camp! But that's where he goes. 

The acting is pretty good and film was pretty well paced. As powerful as the subject matter is, the found-footage style added to the authenticity. However, the film loose its way and becomes a little predictable towards the end. After the cult members drink their the magic orange juice, it's just a loan survivor left roaming around aimlessly - hunted by the guards for twenty minutes before getting on the chopper.

The characters may have been infuriating at times and the ending all too predictable, but the The Sacrament is a well-made and disturbing edition the Ti West filmography.

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Wolf Creek 2 (2014)

We head back into the outback with serial killer madman Mick Taylor. After the first installment, Mick has moved south towards a more populated area in which to find his victims. The dark, unsettling atmosphere of the original film isn't really present here and there is very little build up before the killing begins.

The first death of the film is ridiculously over the top and very unlikely. I don't to give too much away, but it involves a rifle shot that any army sniper would struggle to make. Mick inevitably has a run-in with some tourists again - German tourists this time. I almost felt glad the tourists were killed, they were truly stupid. They got a lift out into the he middle of nowhere with few supplies and then start shouting at each other and asking how they were going to get back...eventually Mick turns up and offers the couple a lift back into town, needless to say, they don't make it.

In a way the film reminded me of I Spit On Your Grave 2 - basically the same film set somewhere else. Fare enough, the killings are gory and the killer is his usual charismatic, funny self, but there's nothing original in the film; if it weren't for the 2 in the title, there wouldn't be any difference in the story compared with the first film. The film has with the same basic elements - two stupid tourists, a dungeon, and a madman. The ending is exactly the same as well.

The only difference in this film is that Mick begins stalking an Englishmen who witnessed the killing of the tourists, he toys with him (Hitcher style) in a game of cat and mouse.

*SPOILER ALERT* The films ends the same as the first, with a single survivor escaping. At the end of the film a caption come on saying the police didn't believe is story of a madman roaming the outback killing tourists, and they suspect he killed the tourists himself. The final scene shows Mick Taylor walking away in the dessert with his rifle over his shoulder.

Like many horror sequels of the last ten years, Wolf Creek 2 failed to live up to its predecessor's success. It's not a terrible film by any means, and is a refreshing change from all the found-footage films that are saturating the genre.

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Devil's Due (2014)

When I watched Devil's Pass last year, I thought that I wouldn't see a found-footage film as bad - Devil's Due has proven me wrong.

The film starts with a couple, Zach and Samantha McCall, getting married and then going on honeymoon to some south American country. They document their journey through the back streets of some this dive with their conveniently handy camera. They party through the night - dancing in the streets at the local festival and drinking. They end up in some seedy backstreet club with a taxi driver they just met.... What happens to the couple after that is a mystery and upon their return home they discover that Samantha is pregnant..?

For the next sixty completely tiresome minutes, you are submitted to the most disjointed and boring drivel ever to be put on film - easily one of the most boring films I have ever seen - culminating in a bloodbath and a 10 minute CGI exhibition.

Devil's Due takes the top spot as the worst found-footage film I have seen so far, stay well clear.

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Alien Abduction (2014)

Alien Abduction starts off like The Blair Witch Project, with documentary style clips of interviews with local people recounting their tales of the strange lights seen in the area and mysterious disappearances on the woods.

The rest of the film consists of footage filmed by a family of campers as they venture up into the hills. The filming is done by the youngest boy (who is autistic). The family soon become lost and run out of gas. Stranded in a tunnel, they find abandoned cars with no drivers to be found... then the aliens arrive.

The CGI and sound effects during the abduction scenes are chilling and scary, and the quick, flickering filming style all adds to the unsettling atmosphere. The film is perfectly paced, maintaining the tension throughout, and a mixture of great lighting effects and editing make the film genuinely scary, cover-your-eyes viewing.

Eventually the family take refuge in home of a local redneck. The young autistic boy uses the camera as a kind of alien detector (with picture distortions being the telltale signs of an alien presence).  The aliens terrorize the group in the small log cabin, forcing them out into the woods; this is were the film takes on the 'Blair Witch' style. The scenes when the kids are running around in the dark woods with a dimly lit camera were very suspenseful; I was waiting for one of the aliens to jump out at any moment.

After years of those crappy Paranormal Activity films, Alien Abduction is refreshing change; the best found-footage film I've seen in years, and is a must see.

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Snowpiercer (2014)

Snowpiercer is a cross between Elysium and The Raid on a train, and is basically an allegorical reflection of modern society. Everything takes place on a huge train that circles a frozen wasteland earth. Years earlier scientists released a chemical into the atmosphere in an attempt to stop global warming and inadvertently started a new ice-age. Seeing the impending doom of mankind, a genius called Wilford (Ed Harris) designed the huge train, which uses the earths magnetic field for propulsion..

The train has a class system, with the lowest toward the back of the train and highest toward the front. The people in the tail section live in squaller, packed together on cramped, filthy shelves, with the only food available being black blocks of jelly called "protein blocks". Curtis (Chris Evans) is one of peasants from the tail section - sick of the living conditions, constant killings and lack of food, Curtis plans a uprising.

The population of the train is kept under control by periodical sacrifices in honor of the demigod "Wilford". The sacrifices always come from the tail section of course, and the people are often told to be grateful by their rich, well fed oppressors. The revolutionaries are shocked to discover the way that people live towards the front of the train - with a constant supply of meat, fresh fish, vegetables and eggs. They also discover, to their horror, what those "protein bars" are made of.

On there their way through the train, Curtis, and his friends encounter a carriage full of henchmen armed with machetes and axes - this is a brilliant fight scene. With around 100 men cutting each other to ribbons in a tight train carriage with blood spraying on the windows and some nice slow motion edits.

I'm kind of surprised the film has not been criticized the way Elysium was, because it's subtle critique of society is almost identical. Anyway, Snowpiercer is a descent Sci-Fi drama, with great editing throughout, and some solid performances from the main characters.

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