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Tag Archives: 2016
Cover to “International Iron Man” #1, Alex Maleev, 2016
Marvel Comics.
A short review of the “Cabin Fever” remake (2016)
I don’t understand why the 2016 remake of Eli Roth’s “Cabin Fever” (2002) is so hated by critics and audiences. It has a 0% rating over at Rotten Tomatoes, and reviews of the movie are withering. I personally thought it was a very well made horror film; I’d rate it at least an 8 out of 10.
Sure, I understand the criticisms. This is definitely an unneeded remake. And the new cast here feels bland compared to the doomed vacationers in Roth’s campier, weirder outing 14 years prior. (Although this isn’t a shot-for-shot remake, it still proceeds mostly from his original script.)
But the new “Cabin Fever” is well filmed, and it’s damned horrifying. Director Travis Z significantly ups the gore, violence and frightening imagery — it’s not for the squeamish. It passes the litmus test for decent horror movies, because it scared me.
Maybe I’m just partial to Roth’s basic story concept — a terrifying new illness that jumps from person to person in an isolated location from which it’s difficult to escape, turning them against one another. It’s precisely the same plot driver as the one for John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982), which is among the greatest sci-fi/horror films of all time. And I suppose Roth’s story could be taken as modern retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death,” with some of the director’s sadism and unique black humor injected into it via his screwball, eccentric characters. Remake or not, this is still a creative change of pace from a genre consistently overcrowded with slashers and shrieking ghosts.
A short review of “Killing Ground” (2016)
I can’t say that the Australian “Killing Ground” (2016) is a bad horror-thriller. It’s well made in some ways — most notably in its generally excellent cast. (The standouts here are Harriet Dyer and Ian Meadows; the latter provides a disturbingly naturalistic performance as one of the story’s evildoers. He’s a talented actor and unnervingly skilled in his role here.) And the cinematography is good, even if it suffers in inevitable comparison to the seminal Australian outback horror-thrillers, the extraordinary “Wolf Creek” films and TV series (2005-2017).
But I can’t actually recommend “Killing Ground” either, because I didn’t enjoy it much. I’d rate it only a 4 out of 10 for its strengths. What held me back from enjoying the movie more is its brutal portrayal of violence.
I realize that sounds ridiculous, given my viewing habits and the films I’ve favorably reviewed right here at this blog. (Any entry in the “Wolf Creek” series, for example, contains far more violence and sadism than “Killing Ground.”) And I’ll probably do a poor job of explaining it now.
But the violence here feels too … realistic. (Other reviewers have noted this as well, and employed the descriptor “hyper-realistic.”) Furthermore, its depiction is not in service to the story, but rather seems the sole and primary focus of the film itself. One of my complaints about “Killing Ground” is that there is not much of a story at all. We simply witness random violence perpetrated against ordinary innocents who we would probably like if we met them. (I am trying to avoid spoilers here; hence my vague language.)
Writer-director Damien Power also delivers this brutality to the audience in a … prosaic manner, I guess, with little fanfare. His movie came across to me like a faux snuff film, instead of a cinematic story of good and evil, or a character-driven survival parable. (I submit that “Wolf Creek” hit it out of the park on both of those counts.)
If you think I’m being unclear here, I apologize for that. The point I’m trying to make is maddeningly difficult to articulate. And I’ll concede up front that my reaction to this film is especially subjective.
If it gives you any context, I’ll point out that critical reaction to “Killing Ground” was quite divided, with some reviewers sharing my discomfort, while others lauded the film. Your mileage may vary.
Poster for “Black Mirror” Season 3, 2016
Endemol Shine UK, Netflix.
A short review of “Brightburn” (2019)
For all of its promise, “Brightburn” (2019) is the kind of movie that you can wait to rent from Redbox, rather than paying for a theater ticket. It isn’t a bad movie, exactly — I’d rate it a 7 out of 10, due to its admittedly great premise and some nice visuals. But you can wait for the DVD for two reasons:
- The film does little with its wicked-cool premise (what if a super-powered child like Clark Kent became a homicidal bad guy?). After walking the viewer through a horror-movie version of Superman’s origin story, the movie does almost nothing to expand on the idea.
- If you’ve already seen the trailer for “Brightburn,” then you’ve already seen most of the important parts. Seriously — this is another instance where a movie’s trailer reveals too much, and shows you virtually the entire story. I can’t see spending the ticket price to see what you might feel is mostly filler.
One of the more interesting things about “Brightburn” is its story concept, which is borrowed wholesale, of course, from DC Comics — apparently without any agreement with the company. I’m no expert on intellectual property rights, but … isn’t that kind of a big deal? Why is nobody commenting about it? This is essentially an unauthorized “Elseworlds” tale. (For those who don’t read comics, “Elseworlds” was an official DC imprint series where its characters were re-imagined in “what-if” scenarios, unconnected with the “real” DC universe’s continuity. What if Superman landed in the jungle as a baby and was raised by animals? What if he landed in Soviet Russia? What if he were found by Thomas and Martha Wayne, whose subsequent murder motivated his emergence as Batman?)
To make matters even more interesting, I’m willing to bet that some people will like “Brightburn” better than a few of the official Superman movies, especially 2016’s head-scratching “Superman vs. Batman: Dawn of Justice.”
The filmmakers appear to making no effort to lampshade the intentional similarities, even in the movie’s marketing. (Even the boy villain’s “logo” in the story is like a twisted cubist remix of Superman’s logo.) I suppose if they claimed that “Brightburn” was a deliberate parody of the Superman mythos (and you could kinda view it that way), then it seems acceptable as satire.
Variant Cover to “Elektra” #4, Christopher Stevens, 2016
Marvel Comics.
