I want to keep it seasonal, at least through Saturday, so yes it's a horror film that might be of questionable quality. I hate myself for covering Little Girl…already. You know, an actual horror film of great quality where all the action occurs because of a not so chance meeting on Halloween? And then I realized Ginger Snaps has never been covered on this blog. Bless those kooky Canadians and their cursed horror films. Film Rec: Ginger Snaps Imagine, if you will, a horror film not targeted at men. Like, at all.* A horror film that really takes the entire concept from a natural occurrence in women.**/*** Ginger Snaps is a werewolf movie unlike any other you've experienced. To be blunt: lycanthropy is equated with sexual awakening, specifically a teenage girl's first menstrual cycle. The blood draws the attention of a nearby werewolf who pounces, strikes, but does not kill Ginger. Now Ginger is having brand new feelings that she doesn't understand, and only has until the next full moon, Halloween night, to save herself with the help of her sister and a local marijuana farmer. Bizarre? Yes. Hilarious? At times. Beautifully written from a very different and rarely heard voice in horror films? Bingo. What Karen Walton and John Fawcett create through a werewolf lens is one of the more authentic modern takes on teenage life. Ginger and Brigitte have to deal with the an assault of influences: their female peers hate them for being different, their male peers want to deflower them to brag about taking something so precious from the two girls unaffected by their advances, their teachers constantly misinterpret their creative assignments as attacks on the school, and their parents try too hard to be best friends with them. Sure, Ginger and Brigitte take an "us vs. the world" mentality, which does impact their friendships, academic performance, and parental interactions, but it feels real. The biggest achievement of Walton and Fawcett is to make a werewolf film not about the werewolf at all. Everything is about temptation – sex, drugs, alcohol, violence, crime – but on a scale that seems appropriate and realistic for high school students. They aren't trying to score cocaine; a few puffs of marijuana make them feel so cool and rebellious. They aren't having take your hoops off and put Vaseline on your face brawls in the hallway; they hit each other a little extra hard while playing field hockey. They play practical jokes on each other. They have morbid in-jokes that really are as horrifying as they seem, and that's the main reason they like them. I haven't even gone into how natural the bond is between the two sisters, how heartbreaking the character arc of the mother is, the dark humour brought on with a wink to the horror audience that is capable of bringing appeal to a male audience, or even how accurately the film plays by lycanthropy rules while also breaking every single one. Rent it tonight and watch it tomorrow with the two sequels. It's better than watching another Freddy/Jason film or an awful remake. *No, those awful remakes, reimaginings, and derivative films overflowing with CW/WB has beens and never was's don't count. Those intentionally put actresses that look like jail bait in skimpy wet costumes to get the guys in the theater. **Not pregnancy. If I see one more half-baked abortion/psychopathic killer pairing in theaters I'll tear the screen down. ***Bizarre weddings don't count here either. That's an excuse to cover a virgin (always, always a white dress in those films regardless of how big a slut the character is) in blood.

Labels: film rec

OK, technically this should be a Midnight Rec. Also technically, the fucking high school I work with should be able to foot the bill to get the high school play's programs run off at the same print shop that does 5000+ football programs every year that never even get passed out at games because they forget. I'm not exaggerating on the number. I've seen the invoice. Film Rec: Cigarette Burns Cigarette Burns is arguably the single greatest film John Carpenter has ever made. And that's because two up and coming horror writers penned a fantastic script about a killer film. And no, it doesn't really kill people. It's not cursed, either. It's completely different from any film you've seen recently. An eccentric millionaire who collects the rarest of rare film memorabilia wants the final piece of his banned cinema puzzle: a film that only played at one festival. The ensuing bloodbath was enough to have the film confiscated by the police and destroyed. But he knows a copy still exists. So his freelance detective has to travel all over the world, interviewing people who are progressively closer to having witnessed the whole film for themselves. A horror film about finding a film? How can that be scary? It's not. It's utterly disturbing, terrifying, and haunting. It's smart. It's funny. It's bloody. It's gorey. It's subtle. It's excessive. It's even a little blasphemous. It's everything that can but shouldn't be combined in a horror film put to good use. If you don't want to call it a horror film, then say it's a thriller. Call it a high stakes noir romance if it makes you feel better. It's worth watching. Believe it. FYI: It's technically a short film that's also an episode of the TV series Masters of Horror. Those are arguably films collected under a TV banner, but I'm iffy on the Made for TV's mixing with the cinema releases. This is the exception that proves the rule.

Labels: film rec

I have a love/hate relationship with excellent film reviews. On the one hand, they are an absolute pleasure to read. Case in point: Ranylt Richildis' masterful review of The Duchess at Pajiba. The prose is excellent, the opinions thoughtful, and the critical analysis relevant. If more writers would approach reviews so thoughtfully, then general film criticism would be a far more wonderful place. The hate? That inevitably, I would be writing MY review, article, or blog post AFTER such a masterful review. A review published on a site I often use to generate traffic for my own projects. In order words: what chance do I have to live up to it. I don't. Thank goodness this site is about the writing. Film Rec: The Duchess (2008) Hey film fans! Do you enjoy smart, well written, historical cozies produced by the BBC? Then look no further than The Duchess for all of your never show a single thing happen on screen because that might be scandalous and we must maintain our integrity filmmaking.* The Duchess is adapted from Amanda Foreman's well reviewed biography Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. I can't speak for it myself for I have not read it yet. It describes the life of a young woman married off to the Duke of Devonshire for the sole purpose of producing a male heir. Foreman's book apparently goes into great detail about Georgiana's drinking, gambling, and promiscuity, which is not the point of The Duchess. What the three-man team of screenwriters do with The Duchess is tell a story about the continuation of power and the balance between men and women. Georginia says early in the film that the only way women can express themselves is through their clothing, and answer the Duke approves of. Georginia pushes the limits of her power, eventually speaking for the benefit of her political party and using her fame to get her candidates elected to office. But The Duchess isn't really concerned with that, either. It's the domestic struggle of the wealthy. It's not new ground at all, though the writing is top notch. The confrontations between Georgiana and the Duke are very realistic. The whole film is surprisingly realistic for a period costume drama. There is no initial shock to get over about the elaborate garb, for the material, style, and design of the costuming feels like real clothing. The castle is decorated to within an inch of its life, but it doesn't seem gratuitious. All of this is added in to enhance the subtlety of the screenplay; the competition would be too great if the film relied on the excess of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antionette, as an example. While many are quick to point out how Georgiana's inproper behavior is glossed over, I do not believe this is true at all. There are many incidents in the film where a simple joke or comment points to the deeper problems in Georgiana's life. Perhaps even a greater illustration of her alcoholism and gambling is how she is rarely seen in the film without a glass or chips in her hand surrounded by men. When these issues come to the forefront, it's devastating. Honestly, I recommend seeing The Duchess if you like period films. This is one of the better ones for this historical period in recent years. The performances are all very good, the score marvelous to listen to, and some of the scenes will rip your heart out of your chest and make you reevaluate how powerful a simple twitch of a hand can be. *I view this as a marvelous method that never ceases to amaze me with its creative approach.

Labels: film rec