Movie Thoughts Bundle (The 2000s) #2

In this collection of short reviews, we’ll explore a particular section of the late 2000's where the found footage genre continues to be experimented with, a director gets questionably ambitious with their iteration of a beloved franchise, a criminally underrated little horror film tragically flies under the radar, and Viggo Mortensen stars in one of the greatest post apocalyptic movies off all time.

1. The Fourth Kind - 6/10

Right off the bat, I have to point out the fact that this movie does something pretty unique and refreshing within the found footage horror formula by claiming to be a reenactment of actual archival footage. It does so by presenting itself as a documentary and later structuring itself occasionally in a split-screen style to display its “recreation” simultaneously with its “real footage”. Whether or not this succeeded entirely as the film intended, the creativity in the concept for the genre was certainly notable and shouldn't be understated by horror fans. Staying within the realm of positives here, let me jump straight to the final act of this movie and highlight that the scene where the supposed real archival footage is shown involving a possession of sorts taking place is one of the most tension racking and audibly terrifying scenes of any found footage horror movie to date. 

I was genuinely shook up reacting towards what was being both teasingly shown and heard simultaneously which is a testament to any great found footage movie that attempts to emphasize its reality. The direction here brilliantly conveys a very distortedly captured event adding to the sense of authenticity which is furthered emphasized by a dramatically haunting interview scene with the victim. Now, positives aside, there is  one notable flaw in this movie for me and it's kind of a tricky one considering that it centers around what the movie is creatively doing. I admire its concept of selling itself as both a dramatization of real events and actual footage in order to sell its reality to the audience. 

However, by calling itself a dramatization, from the perspective of a viewer, I now know that what I'm seeing is to be taken as actors in a fake environment. It’s a bit disconnecting in that way whereas most movies would of course want you to buy into what's being shown in order to fully immerse yourself in its experience. My question is why not just make the entire movie an unsettling pseudo-documentary centering around the effectively intense archival footage instead of present ing a split screen fictional recreation? I feel like going this route would have been the better creative choice to take even if it would'e taken away the uniqueness of its artistic approach away.

2. Halloween 2 - 2/10

It would be the biggest understatement of the year to say that Rob Zombie's Halloween II just simply didn't agree with me. This was the first and only movie that I've seen that resulted in me writing out an extensively long rant immediately after the end credits started rolling. However, instead of me just copying and pasting sentence after sentence of angry remarks towards this movie, I've decided to drastically condense my overall feelings into basic highlighted points. First off, let's start off with the positives, or should I say the one and only positive thing that stood out to me in this movie. That being my personal love for visually striking horror imagery which can be seen during a few dream sequences where Rob Zombie’s unique eye for genre eye candy gets to shine. This is primarily with some of the character designs presented in said scenes. And...that's about it. 

That's as far as the praise train goes for Halloween II as everything else just about sank down into a sea of problems for me. We get a cast of uninteresting, frequently annoying, and terribly irredeemable characters that makes up most of this movie's runtime. You also have what I would argue as being one of the worst representations of the Michael Myers character in the entire franchise presenting him as some grunting hobo slasher with little to no terrifying allure whatsoever. This was in high contrast to the original’s genuinely creepy ghost-like stalker, and though I do admire a different visionary mind bringing in their own flavor to an adaptation, this new take simply didn’t work for me whatsoever on its own. Suffice to say, everything that I believe to be essential for a Halloween movie (or just a scary slasher entry) just fell flat on its face with this sequel. 

3. After Dark Horrorfest 2: The Deaths of Ian Stone - 9/10

The Deaths of Ian Stone, another title from the After Dark Horror Fest series, has now become one of the best B movies that I've ever seen in my entire life. You know for a release that's clearly on the lower budgeted side compared to its current larger mainstream horror genre competition, I honestly felt that there was a bit more creativity injected here that was worth celebrating. The Deaths of Ian Stone is about a guy (Ian) who essentially gets murdered each day by horrifying pursuers, only to wake up in slightly different lives to experience the terror of being murdered all over again. With such a potential rich premise like that considering the various directions that could be taken, I felt director Dario Piana and the production team did a phenomenal job at creating this overall exhilarating and immersive experience surrounding the world of the protagonist. 

The pacing never came across as being slow and just about every scene felt necessary to the grander narrative at play. Come to think of it, it kinda felt like like a mix between The Matrix and Constantine (ironically two Keanu Reeves movies that I absolutely love) in some of its thriller injected genre elements. There’s an overall pretty intriguing and well executed story concept being presented here with titular character dying and waking up as the same guy but with a different life. Alongside this idea comes a great adrenaline rush of a supernatural thriller where Ian is consistently being pursued by these shadowy, demon-like entities. But before I end up potentially getting into too many spoilery details, I'll just say that I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see something fresh for the supernatural horror genre. Just keep the smaller scale B-movie aspect in mind while watching to keep expectations in check and I think you'll enjoy what's being offered here.

4. The Road - 10/10

The Road is by far one of the best post-apocalyptic movies to date that effectively uses emotional storytelling and realistic feeling survival-exploration to deeply immerse its audience in its gritty world. This is one of those "doomsday" titles that doesn’t rely on giant visual FX driven spectacle that can easily become numbing or eventually dated but instead focuses on rich character drama and heart string tugging scenes of both tragedy and hope. Guys, mark this down as one of my most highly recommended releases of 2009 especially for anyone looking to experience something that will surely leave them in an emotional puddle by the end of it. Suffice it to say, the overall direction and performances here are worthy of celebration to say the least.