TERRIFIER (2016)

February 15, 2025 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged art the clown, bluray, clown, horror, Slasher, Umbrella Entertainment | 1 Comment

*The cover to Unbrella’s Bluray release*

TERRIFIER (2016)

Film: Horror movie ‘franchises’ are made or broken on how charismatic or how visually striking their antagonist is.

The Freddys, the Jasons, the Michaels, the Ghostfaces all rely on those two points. The victims, the ‘final girl’, the story are all secondary to how appealing the bad guy superstar is! The caveat to that is recasting some don’t always work… sorry, Jackie Earle Haley, but I think you know it’s true.

Terrifier, with its new superstar antagonist, Art the Clown, came out of the blocks racing at full tilt. Suckling on the teat of coulrophibia and doubling down on it with a creepy mime costume, and acting choices, Art slipped it to a space in cinema where the old franchises, except for Scream, were missing in action, and perhaps too old to be revitalised effectively anyway.

Maybe Art is the first of a new generation, and we’ll start to see some REALLY screwed up stuff.

*Not all clowns are funny, especially this work of Art*

Terrifier, along with its two sequels (to date) were written and directed by Damien Leone, who created Art the Clown (he’s more of a mime but you get what I mean) for his earlier film, All Hallows Eve, an anthology film from 2013.

Terrifier tells of party girls Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran)… are these Buffy references…who by sheer bad luck meet Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) at a pizzeria they stop at on their way home from a Halloween party.

Art creeps them out by, well, just being a creepy guy in a clown costume, and is quickly kicked out after he defecates all over the walls of the restaurants bathroom, only to return after the young women leave to execute the two workers.

Tara and Dawn return to their car only to find a tyre slashed and call Tara’s sister, Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) to come and pick them up as the spare was already in use.

Unfortunately for them, Art catches up with them before Victoria’s arrival, and then the gory night of terror REALLY begins.

I’m gonna start with the gore as it really is in your face and all looks practical. Leone a-pears to have come from a make up and special effects background and it’s generally good when those people end up directing as they can see how an effect can be done practically and not resort to substandard CGI. The only effects work I don’t really like was the make up on the nonsensical prologue that ties in with the ending.

On make up, Art the Clown is a terrifying looking thing. The actor is tall and lanky and knows how to manipulate his body so he looks like a combination of a preying mantis and Dhalsim from Street Fighter. His smile is an awful thing to behold also. Doug Jones would be impressed with his physical performance and his lanky, tendrilous body is a sight to behold.

The acting of the four females leads is pretty good, with Canell and Scaffidi being the highlights. The male characters just seem to act by seeing how loud they can yell at each other. Sure I get the script calls for that but at points it was borderline Kitchen Nightmares.

The locations are occasionally laughable as well. The morgue in the basement with what looks like Kaboodle kitchen cabinetry is laughable.

As for the script, well there isn’t really much story here: prologue, killer kills, kills again, and again, and then again, ending. As horror fans we shouldn’t expect more than that, especially from a smaller budgeted film, but the lack of depth was apparent. To Leone’s credit, he certainly is a horror fan judging by the tributes to other horror films thrown in here and there but this was gory over story every inch of the way, and if that’s want you want, something that doesn’t challenge you and just shows cool kills, you will probably dig this, but for me, I just needed a little more of a tale told.

I’m constantly criticising Hollywood for its lack of originality with its incessant need for remakes and sequels and stuff based on comics or books, and whilst I don’t think this is the cure, it’s a great start.

Extras: There is a decent amount of extras on this disc:

‘All Hallow’s Eve’ the Anthology Prequel Film: it’s a great joy when a director’s earlier film is an added extra, it’s even better when that film features the same character from the feature you just watched and even better when it’s a full length film and not just a ten minute short. Winning all round!

Behind the Scenes featurette is a badly films pile of behind the scenes footage but at least they show the final film of some of the bits so you know what part of the film it came from.

Interview with Jenna Kanell sees ‘Tara’ talk about her experiences with the film and her history with Leone.

Deleted scenes shows two scenes that would have made little difference to the film at all.

Dread Central presents Terrifier San Diego Crowd Response is what you would expect: a bunch of people who loved the film… of course they did, why would you showcase the people who hated it. A bit onanistic as these things usually are.

Art the Clown Time Lapse Makeup – it does NOT look like a fun application, but it was fun to see the transformation: I wish there had been a talk through of what was being done.

Finally, trailers for Terrifier and All Hallows Eve.

Film: 5/10

Extras: 9/10

Rewatchability: 8/10

*Guess who isn’t coming back for the sequel!*

This Umbrella Bluray release was purchased from JB Hifi

ALIEN 2 ON EARTH (1980)

January 4, 2025 by J.R. in To Watch Pile and tagged 88 Films, bluray, horror, italian, Sci Fi, scifi | 1 Comment

Alien 2 On Earth (1980)

Did you know there was a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien that was made a year after Alien’s release? Surely, just because something isn’t ‘official’ doesn’t mean it’s not a sequel, right?

Fan fiction is legitimate writing, isn’t it? If that’s the case, I’m going to say that Alien 2 On Earth, aka Alien Terror, aka Alien 2 Sulla Terra is just as legitimate a sequel as Patrick Lives Again, and Zombi 2.

Alien 2 On Earth was written and directed (under instruction/ advisement of a Mario Bava) by Caro Ippolito under the pseudonym ‘Sam Cromwell’ and even though it’s not an actual sequel, and doesn’t look anything like Scott’s Alien, 20th Century Fox attempted to sue, but were stopped when it was shown that a book called Alien also existed.

The plot of the story is bizarre.

The world excitedly awaits the return to earth of some astronaut hits in their landing shuttle, but when it arrives, it’s found to be empty, just as weird blue rocks start to appear around the world.

Thelma Joyce (Belinda Mayne) is a spelunker who has a bizarre psychic seizure when being interviewed on a TV show about caves. The interview is cut short and she joins husband Roy (Mark Bodin) and the rest of her spelunking crew to go into some caves (filmed in the beautiful Castellana Grotte: a cave system in Italy).

On their way, one of the team Burt (Michele Saovi) finds one of the blue rocks and gives it to Thelma, knowing she loves geology, and of course for some strange reason, she takes it with her into the cave system.

Once down there, the rock starts to pulsate and a bizarre ‘thing’ comes out, attacking the crew, murdering them one by one in all manner of gory ways. Panicked, they lose their way in the caves but will any of them escape? And if that blue rock had that ‘thing’ in it, what of all the others above ground..?

Alien 2 On Earth is a silly as a film can be. It looks like an Irwin Allen science fiction TV series, has extreme gore that is actually quite indefinable, considering we never actually get to see the alien properly, and has bizarrely bad pacing with lingering shots of bowling alley ball returns that go on for so long that they are clearly there to stretch the time of the film. This all goes without commenting on how dismal the handheld camera work is; it’s so rocky at times that it makes The Blair Witch Project look like it was filmed on steadicam.

Sadly, and it is a reflection of my taste, I guess, I enjoyed watching every stupid minute, and this 88 Films Italian Collection release has treated it with far more respect than it possibly deserves.

An amusing story surround this film as it was originally supposed to be far more grand in scale, opening with the remains of the Nostromo from Alien crashing to earth (it must have traveled back in time) with the remains of the alien onboard, but legend has it that Ippolito spent a large proportion of the money raised for the film on an expensive car, escorts and casinos.

I really can’t express how stupid AND how much fun this film is. I’m almost embarrassed to like it.

*The menu screen from 88 Films’ bluray release*

Extras: The delightful folks at 88 Films have provided us with a handful of fun extras:

Special Effects Test is an interesting way to sit in silence for a few minutes whilst blank screens and blood and guts fill the screen. Would have been more interesting with some editing and maybe a commentary?

Franchised Terrorist: An Interview With Eli Roth, who is a big fan of 80s Italian horror and his enthusiasm for the film is visible, and he knows a lot about it! Interesting, but I would have preferred seeing someone who worked on the film chatting about it.

Alien 2 On Earth Trailer is exactly what it says on the box; the trailer for Alien 2 On Earth… but that’s not all, folks! We also have a trailer reel for other films like Creepshow 2, Invasion U.S.A., River of Death, Graduation Day, Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers, Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland, The Couch Trip, Cuba, Messenger of Death and The Dead Next Door! Whew!

Film: 5/10

Extras: 6/10

Re-Watchability: 7/10

This 88 Films release was purchased from Amazon.

Imaginary (2024)

November 21, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, Digital Retribution review, horror, To Watch Pile and tagged digital retribution, dvd, horror, imaginary, Jeff Wadlow | Leave a comment

IMAGINARY (2024)

I think most people had an imaginary friend when they were children. I know I had one, though apparently mine was a different experience to most. I had my imaginary friend from the ages of 13 to 16, and instead of being an elf or a teddy bear, mine was a 27 year old blonde Bulgarian single mother of two with a voracious sexual appetite.

… but enough about me and teenage fantastical and onto the fantasies of writer and director of Imaginary, Jeff Wadlow, the director who also gave us the perfectly average but forgettable Truth or Dare from 2018 and a slasher from 2005 called cry_wolf, mostly forgotten except for the fact it starred Jon Bon Jovi as an educator.

It also had my then-horror movie crush Lindy Booth.

Imaginary starts with children’s author Jessica Barnes (DeWanda Wise) having a nightmare about a giant spider perusing her through a house, ironically in a scene similar to a children’s book she has written called Molly Millipede and the Blue Door.

She awakes with her partner, Max (Tom Payne) and they make the decision to move a few days early back to her childhood house, with his two daughters, Taylor (Taegan Burns) and Alice (Pyper Braun), the house now vacated after her father was admitted to an aged care facility.

Max’s life has had some tragedy as well as his former partner has been removed from society for some mental issues, including hurting the younger daughter.

Of course, being a new parent to the girls, Jessica has trouble connecting with teenage Taylor, who also won’t let her break down the walls with the her little sister, try though she might.

Soon after moving in, Alice and Jessica engage in a game of hide and seek, during which, Alice finds a teddy bear abandoned in a hidden room in the basement, which she quickly adopts.

Alice and the bear, who according to Alice calls himself ‘Chauncey’, become fast friends, as any child with a plush toy would, but very soon Chauncey gives Alice a list of things to do, a list of very specific things that have to be done… but why? What are these tasks in aid of… and why are some of them destructive, even self-destructive?

Unfortunately Imaginary is a great name for this film, as its entertainment value, its acting quality, its character’s likability… all imaginary. I love a film that has an imaginary friend cause some kind of terror to the family, even though each of these films has the same stuff in it like childhood trauma, a blended family, a new house, a young child who feels disenfranchised for what ever reason, and this film just sat down with a checklist and marked them off, one by one.

I will credit it with it taking the murderous demon/ ghost/ imaginary friend, and tweaking it a little to make the payoff somewhat different, though it does feel like it’s riffing a little on Steven King’s It, but because the rest of it is so mediocre, the payoff doesn’t feel like a reward, and instead feels just like a relief that it’s all over.

Disc: Nothing

Film: 2/10

Extras: N/A

Re-Watchability: 0/10

This review was done with the Australian release DVD purchased from JB Hifi

MASTERS OF HORROR: IMPRINT (2006)

July 20, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged dvd, horror, imprint, masters of horror, takashi Miike | Leave a comment

MASTERS OF HORROR: IMPRINT (2006)

In the early 2000s, an amazing TV series was produced called Masters of Horror, created by Mick Garris, where famous horror directors like Dario Argento, Don Coscarelli, Stuart Gordon, John Carpenter and others got to create short one hour horror movies, and Takashi Miike was one of the directors asked to participate.

Notoriety follows director Miike like a haunted shadow of a tortured ballerina whose sole purpose is to cut out his tongue and slice off his nipples. This, his ‘banned’ episode of Masters of Horror, sits well amongst his work. Like most of his movies, the story simmers, and is broughtslowly to a boil. With images of beautiful pain and exquisite suffering that stays with you for a time after the movie has finished.

Based on a novel Bokke Kyote, by Shimaku Iwai (who also had a small role in the film), the screenplay for this film was written by Daisuke Tengan, who has worked with Miike before when he adapted the novel Audition by Ryu Murakami into the wonderful film of the same name.

Imprint tells the haunting tale from the 1800s of American journalist, Christopher (Billy Drago), who travels to an island in Japan in search of the prostitute, Komomo (Michie) who he had abandoned years earlier, promising to return for her. Finding himself unable to locate Komomo, he takes residence in a bordello, where he hires the services of a deformed hooker (Youki Kudoh), but instead of taking her for carnal pleasures, he asks her to tell him a story, and so, she recounts to him the fate of his beloved Komomo, and so begins a story of rape, torture and degradation…

Beautifully shot, Imprint at times is like watching a traditional Japanese painting come to life. The flame haired whores with their blackened teeth take on the appearance of oni or evil spirits, who live on islands and take much delight in the torture of others. Miike’s ability to take the obtusely sickening and turn it into an image of beauty is a gift that few directors have, but he has in spades.

The only real problem I found with this episode of Masters of Horror was Billy Drago’s performance, but I do not think that was his responsibility. Obviously, this film was to be part of an American television series, and the performances were to be executed in English, but as much trouble as some of the Japanese cast members had in performing in English; it seemed that the normally wonderful Drago was being misdirected, and appeared to be overacting. I imagine that this was due to miscommunication from the language barrier between Miike and Drago.

Everything Miike did right with the nightmare of Audition, he has done again here with Imprint. Both brutal and beautiful, Imprint is an experience not to be missed. The extras on this DVD make it a pretty easy sell as well.

Disc: There are 6 extras on this disc.

Imprint: I Am The Director of Love and Freedom Takashi Miike is a comprehensive interview with Miike, not just about this film, but about j-horror and its continuing influence in western cinema.

Imprint: Imperfect Beauty is one of the better spfx documentaries I have seen in a while.

Imprint: Imprinting is basically a ‘making of’ but an extraordinarily good one. This doco features interviews with many of the cast and crew including Nadia Vanessa, the dialogue coach who taught most of the actors how to play their parts phonetically, and is incredibly thorough and interesting.

There is a brief but fairly comprehensive biography of director Takashi Miike.

Commentary is by Chris D from American Cinematheque and Wyatt Doyle of NewTexture.com. While these two really had naught to do with this film, the talk-through is informative, and their discussion about the total influence of western to Asian and Asian to western cinema is enlightening and provides some independent insights into the production and decisions made about this film.

DVD-ROM – screensaver and script (Unreviewed as I have no longer have a PC with a disc drive in it)

The DVD was purchased from Ezydvd.

AUDITION aka ǑDISHON (1998)

July 13, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged 90s, bluray, horror, j-horror, japanese, jhorror, takashimiike | Leave a comment

*The steelbook cover to Arrow Video’s Audition*

AUDITION aka ǑDISHON (1998)

I first saw Audtion many years ago on a terrible DVD released in Australia that was too dark and muddy and even in such an awful format, it effected me. This Bluray release has none of that and it is an even better watch, as you would expect.

Director Takahashi Miike (Ichi the Killer) has created such a mind blowing psycho-sexual piece of cinema that to stick it in a box marked ‘psychological thriller’ or ‘horror’ is to take away its impact. When first released in Japan in 1999 as Odishon, it was played in such a poor array of dead-end theatres that it whimpered out and looked like it was going to disappear without a trace. Luckily, in 2000, Audition was then picked up for film festivals in both Vancouver and then Rotterdam, where it won both the FIPRESCI prize and the KNF award, and in the following year at Fantsporto in Portugal, it won the International Fantasy Film Award – Special Mention award and was nominated for International Fantasy Film Award.

Based on a story by Ryu Murakami, Audition is the tale of a man, Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), who, after the death of his wife, finds it hard to meet a new woman. Inspired by comments made by his son, Shigehiko (Tetsu Sawaki), as to how loneliness is making him prematurely age, he embarks on a mission to meet women. Using his position as a video producer he starts a series of auditions for a fictional project.

After looking over many women, he finally meets Asami (Eihi Shiina), whose exquisite delicateness intrigues Aoyama, and her quiet demeanour intrigues him, even though she is close in age to his son.

Asami and Aoyama slowly develop a friendship which blossoms into something more intimate, but after they make love for the first, Asami disappears and Aoyama starts an investigation to find her, but what he finds is that she may not have been telling him the entire truth…

*The seemingly delicate Asami (Eihi Shiina)*

All through this movie there is such a feeling of claustrophobia and discomfort that unlike many films gets right under your skin, as do most of Miike other films. The juxtaposition of moments of quiet beauty and subtle relationship building, combined with some of the shock moments (that I won’t reveal here) are truly amazing. The real trick here is that there are moments of intimacy that are filmed more like claustrophobia than closeness, and that adds to the unsettled nature of this new relationship between the main leads.

Although Miike doesn’t make horror films per say, he is however a reluctant genre film director who has had horror cult status thrust upon him, which is why films like this, and his others like Visitors Q and his comic adaptation Ichi the Killer are such fascinating watches.

This story works so effectively as it doesn’t adhere to stereotypes, as one would expect from a film that didn’t get punched out of the Hollywood thriller cookie cutter. This film reminds me of the first time I read American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis, the combination of subtle day-to-day suddenly flipped on its head. This is a movie that will stick with you for a long time after you watch it.

*The menu screen to the Arrow Video Blu-ray*

Disc: An absolute treasure trove of extras on this disc. I must also point out that the film can be watched with an introduction by Miike.

First, we have two commentaries, The first by director Takashi Miike and screenwriter Diasuke Tengan, and a second by Tom Mes. The first is in Japanese so it is subtitled and is enthusiastic and interesting. The second is performed by Mes, a writer who has written books about Miike’s career. It is interesting but less so that the aforementioned one. It is in English.

There is a series of interview with cast and crew: Takashi Miike, Ryo Ishibashi, Eisis Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi. These interviews are each quite long and not like the ones you would get from American films with a few sound bytes of actors and directors massaging each other’s egos. These are fascinating insights into the film and each individuals history.

Damaged Romance; An Appreciation by Tony Ry looks both at Miike’s career and specifically the making of this film, and even the history of Japanese genre films.

There are two trailers for the film, one Japanese and the other the international one.

Another useless image gallery.

RING (1998)

July 6, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged 90s, bluray, horror, j-horror, japan, jhorror, ring | 1 Comment

*The cover to Arrow’s Ring Bluray, taken from The Ring Collection*

RING (1998)

This is where you start with J-horror, right? This was the one that got us all involved in the late 90s. Ring is the parent that introduced us too all the Japanese horror we ended up craving: The Grudge, Dark Water, Pulse… not to mention directors like Takashi Miike, Hideo Nakata and their contemporaries.

Personally, I think a lot of the increased mainstream love of anime came from that time, as horror fans became more involved in the culture of various Asian countries, it leeched into the regular nerds and normal people via some good and some not so good remakes, and that trickled all the way through pop culture. I pretty much went think the popularity of Junji Ito relates directly to it.

That’s just my observation of the time.

(NB: I’m well aware that there were anime and manga fans before this time, heck I was one of them as I grew up loving Japanese cartoons, which is what they were called before the word ‘anime’ came to western culture properly, but my observations say the world seems to be more into it since 2000. Post COVID and lockdown even more so!

Anyway, enough about my musings. Ring is based on the novel by Kôji Suzuki, with a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi. The film was directed by Hideo Nakata, who didn’t not want to be a horror film director, but basically became the spark that turned the west predominantly into j-horror fans.

Ring tells of journalist Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), who has started a quite aggressive investigation into the urban myth of a VHS video tape that kills you 7 days after you first watch it, and warns you with a phone call where just the words ‘7days’ are whispered to you. This investigation is so urgent as it has just killed her niece, Tomoko (Yûko Takeuchi).

Asakawa eventually finds the tape, watches it and reveals that the myth may be true, and now she has 7 days to find a ‘cure’ to this spiritual virus that lies within the cassette. She shows he ex-husband the tape and the two of them research the footage on the tape in an attempt to find a cure… this attempt becomes more frantic when her young son also watches the tape.

There research finds a connection to a psychic woman who died many years earlier, and the mystery of her daughter, Sadako (Rei Ino’o)…

There is no doubt that Hideo Nakata has created an almost perfect horror film with this movie. It is weirdly over-dramatic with its acting at times, and borders into pantomime but it somehow all sits correctly. When it came out it was such an extraordinarily different thing, seeing as how the 80s was all about the creation of franchises, a mistake cinema is repeating now with the desperation to find the next Marvel or Star Wars series, and the 90s was predominantly a pop culture wasteland, especially with horror seeing as how self-referential stories became the norm after the popularity of the Scream franchise.

Basically I love this film. After being so disappointed how how awful horror had become in the 90s, this was like a breath of fresh air.

The story itself being a strange take on ‘hauntings’ and ‘curses’ was great, and probably due to the fact that Japan doesn’t have its creepies and crawlies based in Christianity like we still do in the west, judging by the popularity of the Conjuring universe. This added with, at the time, my lack of exposure to Japanese culture in general other than Robotech and Akira, just the different lifestyle, cities et cetera made it a visual feast. I actually name this film as being the thing that made me interested in watching Japanese architecture YouTube channels, especially the ‘tiny apartments’ ones.

I cant recommend this film enough. If you haven’t seen this Japanese ‘Ring’ but have seen the Gore Verbinski remake starring Naomi Watts, still give this a go as it is still a fantastic watch with a few differences in the story.

Disc: This Arrow video disc was available singularly, but also as a part of the Ring Trilogy box set which featured Ring, Ring 2 and Ring 0.

This disc has a bunch of cool extras on it though.

There is an Audio Commentary by David Kalat, author of J-Horror, The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond. His is an enthusiastic commentary which reveals him to be very ‘in’ with the whole J-horror sub genre of horror, even though he has a disclaimer that he doesn’t speak Japanese so some of his pronunciations may be inaccurate.

The Ring Legacy looks at the entire scope of the Ring series, from the source material, to films, to video games and to the western remakes. A real fascinating inside into the entire scope of the series.

A Vicious Circle sees author and critic Kat Ellinger explore director Hideo Nakata’s career and the Rings influence on western horror.

Circumnavigating Ring is a video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicolas, who here explores the evolution of the series.

Sadako’s Video is an opportunity for us, the film fan, to see the SADAKO video in its complete form… don’t forget to copy it and give it to someone else.

Three ring trailers including 2 for the Ring and Spiral double bill (which have far too groovy a soundtrack considering the subject matter), and a UK Trailer.

There’s also a useless image gallery.

*The image everyone knows: Sadako revealed!!*

This review was done with a copy of the Bluray of Ring taken from Arrow Video’s Ring Collection. Their was purchase from Arrow’s website

IMMACULATE (2024)

June 29, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged bluray, horror, Nun, nunsploitation | Leave a comment

*The cover to the Australian Bluray release*

IMMACULATE (2024)

I find that sometimes the best way to watch a film is on the odd occasion when you have been lucky enough to avoid all media based around it. In this day and age that is a difficult thing to do, but I managed it with this film. This film, Immaculate, is knew nothing about: i didn’t see a trailer, no comments on my social media… it just slipped me by.

All I knew about it was that it starred current ‘it’s girl (not a female Pennywise but instead the latest movie star social media crush) Sydney Sweeney, and honestly, the only thing I really even knew about HER was that she was one of the stars of the Sony turd-that-sunk-to-the-bottom Marvel film, Madame Web.

This film was really driven by Sweeney. She first auditioned for the film in 2014, but the film was never made but the story by Andrew Lobel really resonated with her. Later, she pursued the script, took on the producer’s hat and was the driving force behind getting the film made, employing the directorial talents of Michael Mohan, who previously directed her in The Voyeurs and Everything Sucks!

Immaculate tells of young nun, Sister Cecelia (Sweeney) whose parish in Detroit closed down and she made the decision to travel to Italy and take on a role of assisting older nuns transition to Heaven in a convent/ hospice.

The usual jealousies that can happen when an interloper comes into a new environment, but those jealousies escalate when after a few weeks, Sister Cecelia, is discovered to have had an immaculate conception.

The church is dubious at first but eventually excited by the prospect of their environment being the place that the rebirth of Jesus himself may take place. None are more excited than Father Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte), a former biologist now member of the clergy, who seems to be resisting taking Sister Cecelia to a proper hospital, instead keeping the pregnancy amongst only those within the convent, including the in-house doctor, Dr. Gallo (Giampiera Judica).

As the pregnancy continues, the members of the order become more and more strange in the attitude towards her, and secretive… are they involved in this immaculate conception, and who are the clergy in red masks that she keeps seeing…

There’s no doubt that Sweeney’s passion for the project wasn’t unfounded. It is a very clever story steeped in religious iconography but not so deep that someone with only a surface level understanding of Catholicism or Christianity would be lost.

*Tarantino may NOT appreciate the foot stuff in this flick*

The tale has three very distinct acts which coincide with the idea of the trimesters of pregnancy and each trimester reveals more of the mystery and steadily the situation becomes worse and worse for the main character and more and more exciting for us the viewer.

This film was a pleasant surprise in a world of sequels, remakes and attempts at making ‘universes’ and franchises. I would even say that not seeing anything about the film beforehand was a blessing in disguise.

*The menu screen of the Australian release of Immaculate*

Disc: There is a series of interviews on this disc: actor/ producer Sweeney, director Mohan, and actors Morte and Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi, who played Sister Isabel, one of the sisters jealous of Cecelia’s choice as the mother of the rebirth of Jesus Christ. These make for a quite interesting collection of information in regards to the film. Well worth watching even though the way it’s presented is with text questions followed by the videoed answers.

*Convent or not: skin care should always be a priority*

This Blu-ray was reviewed with a copy of the film purchased from JB Hifi in Australia.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017)

June 22, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged bluray, horror, King Kong, monsterverse | Leave a comment

*The cover to the Australian Bluray Steelbook of Kong Skull Island*

KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017)

I never like to think of any movie I enjoy as a ‘Guilty Pleasure’. I figure if you feel embarrassed about something you love, you probably don’t actually love it but enjoy it for nostalgic or other reasons… but today I watched Kong Skull Island.

KSI is the second part of the ‘Monsterverse’ series of films… you know, because EVERYTHING has to be a ‘universe’ these days… which is also known as the ‘Legendary Series’ that started with 2014’s kinda-boring Godzilla, that starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen.

This film was written by a handful of screenwriters: Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Max Borenstein (Hypnotic, with Robert Rodiguez), Derek Connolly (who, honestly, seems to be consistently a ‘team-player’ writer) and John Gatins (Flight) and it is obvious insomuch as there is a bunch of different stories a happening simultaneously, and whilst I appreciate that most movies are like that, this was very much very different stories in a similar situation.

The film was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of Successful Alcoholics and The Kings of Summer, did a great job with this film as he clearly saw that monster movies aren’t just about the monsters, but also the human stories that exist within them; something many horror movies forget… and superhero movies, and sci-fi movies… basically any ‘pop culture’ films.

Its not always about selling toys, Hollywood!

When you consider that the first film of King Kong was created in 1933, and influenced so many sequels, remakes and themes, it isn’t a surprise that films based on the character aren’t still being made. What is surprising though is that this was made so soon after Peter Jackson’s 2005 hit film which is far more a character piece rather than a monster movie like this one. Kong appears very early in this film and there is no hesitation in telling the viewer just exactly who is the star of this film.

Kong: Skull Island starts in 1973, with the Vietnam war almost officially over and Bill Randa (John Goodman) is in charge of an expedition to travel to a previously unexplored island that has remained hidden behind a serious weather anomaly.

Coming with his team are members of Landsat, a computer mapping organisation, with the intention of dropping seismic bombs on the island to get an idea of the landmass, assumed to be hollow. The transportation is provided by a platoon of Vietnam soldiers, under the command of Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) in their choppers, now dormant with Americas withdrawal from the Vietnam war. Finally, a former SAS James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and a press photographer, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) round out the motley crew.

After traversing a quite heinous storm to get to the island, the teams set up their equipment, and start dropping the seismic devices from the choppers but they find that there is resistance to the bombs being dropped in a giant ape called Kong.

Kong attacks the helicopters, separating the teams. Packard and his becomes obsessed with destroying Kong as he so viciously attacked them, but the other team, including Conrad and Weaver, meet a tribe of natives and Marlow (John C. Reilly), a WW2 pilot who became lost on the island during that war, and who knows, after his years on the island, that Kong has an important role in nature… keeping the horrifying Skullcrawlers at bay…

Will Kings defenders get to Packard in time to stop his attempts at killing Kong, or is mankind doomed…

*Samuel L. Jackson in angry soldier mode*

I have to start with the cast of this film when discussing it. Its a combination of Marvel second fiddles (Dr. Doom, Loki, Captain Marvel and Nick Fury aka Toby Kebbell, Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson respectively) mixed with character actors and ‘I know that persons face, whats their name again’ actors like John Goodman, John C Reilly, Thomas Middleditch and Shea Whigham. I LOVE this cast as I was so shocked BY their performances. Hiddleston as the military expert takes the heroic spot like it should always have been his. Jackson plays to type as the shell-shocked army colonial still fighting a war that America lost but its a different style of performance, almost Apocalypse Now-ish in its obsession. Brie Larson, who I liked in Scott Pilgrim but detested as Captain Marvel is warm as the photographer, and surprisingly likeable. Toby Kebbell was great as a ‘doomed’ soldier (sorry) stuck by himself on Skull Island trying to get home to his family, when you consider I have only seen him in the awful 2015 Fantastic Four and as an ape in the more recent Planet of the Apes flicks, anything would have been different!

John C. Reilly was a lot of fun in his role too as the displaced World War 2 soldier as well, playing crazy but not irredeemably psychotic like some of these sorts of roles can end up.

Kong himself was beautifully designed as nature intended and ape to look but he has a fantastic presence here, and always look great in his animation expect where there is water as some of the water scenes look rough. Most of the other creatures look great except for the ‘bad’ creatures, the so-called Skullcrawlers, are supposed to be horrific and whilst there presence and intention is, they look stupid with a human looking upper body attached to a snake tail and heads that look like horse’s skulls. Surely they could have come up with a better design that this. It looks like it was designed by a bunch of suits talking about things that scare them.

Speaking of looks the entire look of the overall film is fantastic. It has a stunning visual palette that’s half (the aforementioned) Apocalypse Now mixed with a Wild West feature. There is some amazing shots of Kong with the sun at his back and they make for exciting visuals due to their used of bright yellow and red. On the flips side, the lush green environments of Vietnam are apparent and beautiful.

Like I mentioned earlier, there’s no shying away from the monsters in this film either. Kong is seen in the first few minutes and then as soon as the expedition hits the island is monster-a-go-go, with all the beast clearly on display, none of that slow reveal rubbish here: money shot up front!

The story is a great deal of fun too. It takes its silly premise just seriously enough that you actually get involved in it without it seeming like parody, but not so serious that it loses its sense of enjoyment.

I honestly didn’t think I’d like this film as i found the predecessor of the series, 2014’s Godzilla, to be plodding and uninteresting except for when the King of Monsters himself lumbered across the screen. This, however, was truly a blockbuster of the highest order. Like a Fast and the Furious film, there was always something happening and at no point did I look at my phone or watch as I was completely enthralled and entertained.

Guilty pleasure indeed, but with zero guilt, so I guess that means this is just a pleasure.

*The menu screen to the Australian Release on bluray*

Disc:

A whole bunch of bananas on this disc!

Creating a King, which is broken down into two parts, Realising an Icon and Summoning a God. Honestly I don’t know why these are two features as they could have been cut together nicely into one 25 minute feature. Together they look at the themes of mans intrusion into the primative world, much like Cannibal Holocaust did, and his destruction of it, combined with the cinematic history of the monster that is Kong, but transforming the character into a god-like character. Lots of amazing design paintings and special effects explanations for those who love HOW movies are made.

On Location: Vietnam is almost a travelogue of how lush and beautiful some parts of Vietnam are. I have gone from no interest in travelling there to a GREAT DEAL of interest!! Hiddleston does say its more beautiful than the other locations of Hawaii and Australia so screw that guy.

Tome Hiddleston: The Intrepid Traveller follows Hiddleston’s journeys across the world as the feature was filmed and the interesting things he found about each location.

Through the Lens: Brief Larson’s Photography is a selection of photos and footage of Larson taking said photos. I think its pretty cool that Larson was actually taking these pics that her character was taking.

Monarch Files 2.0 (Companion Archive) is a fictional file of Monarch’s exploration of Skull Island. It is a delightful addition to the mythos.

Commentary is performed by Vogt-Roberts, and is an enthusiastic and informative commentary. Its always nice to watch a film with a commentary by someone who is so influenced and informed by film, comics, manga and video games.

Deleted Scenes are, as usual, unnecessary additions that the film benefits from their absence, though Hiddleston’s and Jackson’s character’s first meeting was deliciously uncomfortable.

BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)

June 15, 2024 by J.R. in To Watch Pile and tagged 70s, dvd, haunted, horror, house | Leave a comment

BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)

Recently, my wife and I bought a house in the country. Quiet, secluded, peaceful and away from the city. We gave up our lives of hustle and bustle to enjoy the countryside, but being a horror fan comes with its disadvantages. All I could think of before the move was the ‘supernatural’ problems that can come with a new house, and in amongst thinking about all those film that enjoy a ‘new’ house as a core of its plot, the is film, 1976’s Burnt Offerings, kept coming to mind.

Now I’ll just clarify I wasn’t scared of moving to the new house, I was just reminded of it by the situation, and a yearning to watch it came to mind, especially after my more recent foray into ‘new home’ horror with Night Swim came about.

Burnt Offerings was directed by Dark Shadows creator, Dan Curtis, and it was co-written by him with William F. Nolan, the co-creator of Logan’s Run, and based on the book of the same name, published in 1973 by Robert Marasco.

Burnt Offerings tells of the Rolf family, Ben (Oliver Reed), his wife Marian (Karen Black) and their 12 year old son David (Lee Montgomery), who, along with their Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis) have rented a summer house in the country off the Allardyce family for an almost incomprehensible low price for the entire summer.

*Oliver Reed and Karen Black: Cinema Legends*

The Allardyces, Roy (Eileen Heckart) and her brother Arnold (Burgess Meredith) have only one stipulation for the stay: The Rolfs must feed their mother, a recluse who has no desire to leave with the siblings on their respite, three times a day and maintain the property whilst they stay.

Soon, though, Ben starts to lose control and become violent and thuggish, as Marian becomes more and more obsessed with the house, but what is causing these behaviour changes, and what do they have to do with the horrible visions of the Chauffeur (Anthony James) that Ben is having… and does the house seeing to be repairing itself..?

There’s no doubt that Burnt Offerings is a classic film and that Dan Curtis’ style drips from every single frame.

The cast are suitable amazing when you consider the legends that are within it. Heckart and Meredith are totally bizarre as the brother sister combination, and Davis plays the ostentatious Aunt as only SHE can. Black and Reed are a fantastic choice as the leads and even though they, on paper, probably shouldn’t work together; if I am honest, they feel like a couple who would have a bizarre sex dungeon, or buy waterproof fake fur to make chaps.

Or maybe I am projecting.

The story is fascinating and a slow burn horror, certainly of its time, that probably couldn’t be made today as there is not the amount of WHIZ and BANG to keep a modern audience interested for too long. If I am completely honest, I do feel the almost two hour run time could have a bit of a trim as even I found my mind wandering through some of the longer breaks from the mysteries of the house.

One interesting note is that when Curtis first read the book, he liked it but pitied any director who took on the job of directing any film that may have been made of it as he didn’t like the way the novel finished. Upon taking the job of directing on, he promptly changed the ending.

It is a gem of a film though and it absolutely is marked with Curtis’s style, from the soundtrack to the way the scenes are laid out. I’ve watched it several times and even though it isnt a favourite of mine, I must admit to a regular revisit, probably just due to the providence of the director and actors, but more likely because I, like many, have an obsession with Karen Black.

Disc: This DVD from the Cinema Cult isn’t the greatest as far as quality of image goes. I cannot say that I have seen a better image on a different release, but what I can say is that this is misty and slightly out of focus. This collection has two extras.

There is an audio commentary by Curtis, Black and Nolan which is lovely and conversation and fully discusses the film, with Nolan acting like a moderator more than someone who worked on the film at times.

There is also a theatrical trailer, which I have to say, is an absolute corker of a trailer!

FIVE NIGHT AT FREDDYS (2023)

June 8, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged 4K, five nights at Freddy’s, FNAF, horror | Leave a comment

FIVE NIGHT AT FREDDYS (2023)

*The cover to the Australian 4K release of FNAF*

I’ve never played a Five Nights at Freddy’s game… EVER. Honestly, I’ve never even SEEN the game but I am aware of what a pop culture phenomenon it is.

From 2016 to 2024, I managed a pop culture retail shop, and when we first opened, we had an entire section dedicated to the franchise, and sold everything from plush to Funko pops, actions figures and all kinds of other stuff, and it was super popular but like a lot of pop culture stuff, the shine left it and the section in the store diminished to nothing.

Then randomly in 2022 a film was announced and for some reason no toys or product was available to us so we missed a boat that could have been huge. Even Funko didn’t release much stuff for the films release so maybe there was a doubt that the film would be any good.

Maybe they saw the name ‘Blumhouse’ attached to it.

Anyway, I’m not sure if not having any knowledge about the ‘lore’ associated with the game makes me more or less qualified to review it, but I CAN tell you that I had friends who were fans of the game who went from loving its original take to hating it for detracting from the core of the ideas in the game.

This film was directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the script with Seth Cuddeback, Tyler McIntyre and Chris Lee Hill, based on the script of the original game by Scott Cawthon, with the animatronics characters created by the Jim Henson Workshop.

Five Nights at Freddy’s tells of Mike (Hutcherson) who has been fired from his job in mall security after beating up a man who he thought was abducting a child, which rings to his past as his younger brother was kidnapped whilst under his care, an event he constantly dreams of and attempts to get more details of.

His parents, now both deceased, have left him in charge of his younger sister, Abby (Piper Rubio) so he has have to put his life on hold to make sure she is ok, so losing this job is catastrophic, especially considering his Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson) is desperate to take Abby under her care.

*Matthew Lillard as Steve, amongst others…*

At a job centre, Mike meets Steve (Matthew Lillard) who offers him a security position at the abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, a children’s restaurant from the 80s with a dark history but the owner insists on protecting it even though its not been open for years.

Mike feels that there is something odd about the job, but his fears are waylaid by the introduction of Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), a friendly cop who has stopped by to check on the new security guard. He continues to do the job, but as his life falls apart, things at work get weirder and weirder…

Visually, it’s not entirely that it’s a bad film, but I think it just came too late, as Willy’s Wonderland and Banana Splits managed to get out first and also don’t have the weight of the history behind the game weighing it down. From my understanding, the animatronic characters look true to form, and according to one of the extras, the YouTuber fans of the game franchise were impressed by the set also.

Unfortunately the praise stops there. The main characters… all of them… are drastically unlikable that I found myself continuing to pray that they would come to their ends. Hutcherson, as the hero of the piece, is so dramatically unlikable that its hard to feel anything about his personal plight, and Rubio as the obnoxious sister bring ‘obnoxicity’ to a new level. Lillard, lets face it, isn’t the greatest of actor in the world unless pantomime is your thing, so his overacting nonsense you’d feel would be perfect for a project like this but stands out horribly… there is a scene where he notices something and the pause is so long that both him and the director should have just held up ‘this is a plot device’ sign. Masterson as the Aunt is suitable malodorous which she is supposed to be, and Lail is pleasant as the cute female love interest but isn’t really given much to do, which is a shame.

The basic plot was nothing new, but I’m a horror fan who also likes Star Wars and superhero films so ‘new’ is hardly a concept that I should criticise and I suppose it’s my error for thinking that a movie based on a video game would really bring anything new to the table, especially one marketed at kids. Weirdly also, for something that is obviously aimed at a younger audience, considering it’s YouTube history and ‘M’ rating. The sub-plot that is introduced as Mike’s trauma is so telegraphed from the absolute beginning that even my wife who, whilst sitting next to me for one viewing but NOT actually watching it, picked it immediately.

I’m sure that fans of this game franchise enjoyed this film but as someone who has zero association with it, that is I don’t know if it’s good or not, i did not. Its a generic attempt at a film franchise that came too late as Willy’s Wonderland and Banana Splits beat them to the punch.

*The menu screen from the 4K release of FNAF*

Disc: Only three extras on the disc:

Five Nights at Freddy’s: From Game to Big Screen looks at how the filmmakers went from adapting the video game phenomenon to a big budget horror film. There is interviews with cast and crew, and also some YouTubers who came onto the set after years of be FNAF content producers.

Killer Animatronics sees how the actors interacted with these ‘real’ fictional characters, and the puppeteers from Jim Henson who created them.

Five Nights in Three Dimensions look at the reaction of the Pizzeria that the characters exist within. It’s a pretty detail set so this extra was quite fascinating.

*The ‘horrifying’ children’s characters*

This film was reviewed with the Australian 4K release purchased from JB Hifi.

Digital Retribution

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