12/20/14: No Room At the Inn

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abandoned inns, alternate title, Carolina Guerra, cinema, Evil Dead, evil kids, Fallen, father-daughter relationships, film reviews, films, Gallows' Hill, Gustavo Angarita, Hellraiser: Revelations, isolated estates, isolation, Juan Pablo Gamboa, Julieta Salazar, Movies, Nathalia Ramos, Peter Facinelli, possession, rainforests, Richard D'Ovidio, Sebastian Martinez, self-sacrifice, set in South America, Sophia Myles, Tatiana Renteria, The Damned, The Evil Dead, Victor Garcia, witches

Here’s a little advice for all you fine folks, free of charge: should you ever find yourself in some fundamentally creepy location like, say, an abandoned inn in the middle of the Columbian rain forest, do not – I repeat, do not – attempt to free any strange, emotionless children who appear to be locked inside small cells covered in occult symbols and writing. At the very least, you might be interfering with some sort of extreme time-out scenario. Worst case? You might actually be unleashing an all-powerful, unstoppable witch onto the general populace. Now, wouldn’t that just make you feel like a big, ol’ jackass?

Good advice, to be sure, but advice that doesn’t seem to have made it to the characters in Victor Garcia’s The Damned (2013): they end up at that creepy inn, they let loose the creepy girl and, as often happens, they reap plenty of Hell in the process. While the scenario may be slightly musty, Garcia’s film is an atmospheric enough little chiller that features a handful of suitably creepy scenes, plenty of by-the-book jump scares and enough references to classic genre fare like The Evil Dead (1981) and Fallen (1998) to prove that the filmmaker’s done his research. While The Damned won’t necessarily blow anyone away, it’s a more than suitable entry in this particular sub-genre and worth at least a watch.

The evil presence, in this case, is a long-dead witch by the name of Elena. Elena, even for a witch, is a pretty nasty piece of work: she can’t be killed, knows everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets and can “jump” into a new host whenever her current body is killed. Since Elena can’t be killed, the only recourse is to keep her locked away, forever, in a magically protected wooden box. When we first meet the witch, she’s been imprisoned in the body of a young girl, in said creepy, abandoned inn, watched over by her father, Felipe (Gustavo Angarito) for as long as he continues to live.

As often happens in these situations, a bunch of American tourists end up wrecking the party for everyone. David (Peter Facinelli) and his fiance, Lauren (Sophia Myles), have traveled to Bogata, Columbia, in order to pick up David’s wayward daughter, Jill (Nathalia Ramos), and return her to the States for their wedding. Jill is in Columbia hanging out with her aunt, Gina (Carolina Guerra), a local reporter and sister to David’s deceased wife, Marcela (Tatiana Renteria) and has no interest in attending the wedding: she misses her “real” mom and views Lauren as a “gold-digging bitch”…clearly, no love lost here. After it’s revealed that Jill has left her passport at Gina’s house, the group, along with Gina’s camera-man, Ramon (Sebastian Martinez), decides to go get it, despite the torrential rains that are currently causing flooding everywhere.

Sure enough, the group attempts to cross a flooded-out wash and almost get killed for their troubles when their van is washed away in a truly thrilling bit of outdoor survival action. Regrouping, they manage to make it to the aforementioned creepy, abandoned inn, where they meet the aforementioned Felipe. When the group ignores Felipe’s warnings and explores the inn, they end up finding the sinister, imprisoned Ana Maria (Julieta Salazar), who may look like a little girl but is something far older and more deadly. As the group falls pray to the witch’s spirit, one by one, the ancient evil jumps from one to the next. As their numbers dwindle, the survivors are left to figure out who is now possessed and how, if at all, they’ll be able to excise themselves from this nightmare. Elena, as it turns out, has a plan and each and every “innocent” soul will play its own part.

Lest it seem that the above review is a tad “spoilery,” let me assure you that the film does nothing to hide any of the inevitable revelations about Ana Maria’s true identity: at no point is there ever any doubt that the young girl is evil, even if it takes us a little while to get the full backstory. From the very time we see young Julieta Salazar, with her blank, expressionless eyes and lack of emotion, we should know what we’re getting into: I can’t imagine anyone but honest-to-god horror “newbies” being surprised by any of the film’s twists or revelations, right down to the supposed “shocking twist” ending. Unlike other films that keep audiences guessing as to whether the evil is genuine or not, The Damned throws all its cards on the table the first time Ana Maria uses one of those stereotypical “gravely demon voices” to taunt Felipe. Again, if you’re surprised by this, you really weren’t paying particularly good attention in the first place.

Despite its over-familiarity, however, The Damned is actually a pretty good film: it’s not great, mind you, but the acting tends to be pretty sturdy, the effects are nicely realized (although the hokey CGI storm clouds are real head-smackers) and it’s got some killer locations: you really can’t beat an abandoned inn in the middle of the rain forest as far as creepy places go. The witch’s backstory is also nicely realized and provides a nice counterpoint to more generic horror origin stories: it’s nothing particularly original, mind you, but it also hasn’t been beaten to death (at least yet). Garcia manages to come up with some nicely atmospheric scenes, such as the first time we see the creepy basement area, and balances this atmosphere with some more traditional jump scares (stuff like closing the open fridge door to reveal someone standing there, etc…). There also seem to be quite a few references to Sam Raimi’s classic Evil Dead here, too: everything from the large trapdoor that hides the basement to the “Deadite”-esque demon voices and possessions seem to directly reference the granddaddy of “cabin in the woods” horrors.

For the most part, Garcia is known for films like Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007), Mirrors 2 (2010) and Hellraiser: Revelations (2011), which is easily one of the worst films in a pretty wretched series. With that kind of back catalog, The Damned easily stands out as a high-water mark, if for no other reason than it bears the distinction of not being a direct-to-video sequel to previously established franchises. He gets good performances from his cast, for the most part, with Nurse Jackie’s Peter Facinelli faring the best as the father trying desperately to save his family and Gustavo Angarita faring the worst as the overly angry, shouty Felipe: everyone else falls in between these extremes, although no one really sticks out like a sore thumb.

Ultimately, The Damned is one of those films that plays best on a lazy, rainy weekend when you’ve got nothing better to do than lounge around and watch rain drops race down the window pane. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before (and, in many cases, better) but that doesn’t change the fact that Garcia’s film is eminently watchable and engaging enough to keep viewers hooked til the end. In an era when possession films seem to rule the horror film roost, it’s always nice to see something that takes a route slightly less traveled, even if marginally so.

Just remember: if you find that creepy little girl, leave her right where she is…no good deed ever goes unpunished.

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10/4/14 (Part One): They Sin So You Don’t Have To

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31 Days of Halloween, Andre Royo, bad priests, based on a graphic novel, Catholic church, cinema, Clancy Brown, Clifton Collins Jr., Dan Fogler, dutiful heroes, elder gods, exorcists, Fallen, film reviews, films, Ghostbusters, Hellbenders, horror-comedies, J.T. Petty, Larry Fessenden, Last Supper, Macon Blair, Movies, religious-themed horror, Robyn Rikoon, S&man, sins, Soft For Digging, Stephen Gevedon, supernatural, Surtr, The Augustine Interfaith Order of Hellbound Saints, The Burrowers, writer-director

In an era where ideas (and films) seem to get recycled with as much ease as hand-me-down clothes, it’s more than refreshing to come across an original concept: it’s downright life-affirming. Writer/director J.T. Petty’s Hellbenders (2012) has one hell of an original concept, pun intended: six priests, all of various denominations, exist in a state of constant sin so that they may serve as the “nuclear option” for exorcisms. When there are demons that are too powerful for “regular” exorcists to handle, the team swoops in, invites the demons to possess them and then commit suicide, thereby dragging the demons straight back to hell with them. What this really is, of course, is a perfect excuse to witness priests swear, booze it up and engage in some very bad behavior, ranging from the slightly assholish to the downright blasphemous. It’s a great concept and almost guarantees an interesting film: even though the final product ends up a religious-themed Ghostbusters (1984) with a touch of Fallen (1998), there’s enough wicked good times here to make genre fans pay attention.

The film actually has a rather inauspicious beginning as we witness Angus (Clancy Brown), Larry (Clifton Collins, Jr.) and Det. Elrod (genre auteur Larry Fessenden) tromping around in some nondescript attic-area, lit only by flashlight. The scene recalls [REC] (2007), which seems like a strange point of reference, before jumping into some sloppy pseudo-mockumentary, talking-head-type footage. Just when things seemed to be taking a turn for the generic, however, the glorious opening credit sequence swooped in and saved the day: set to a swaggering, stomping tune, we see our six heroes arrayed around a table, Last Supper style, engaging in everything from excessive drinking to make grilled cheese sandwiches with a Jesus sandwich-press. It’s a silly, visually impressive and, most importantly, utterly badass intro and ends up setting an impossibly high bar for the rest of the film. For a time, however, the movie almost lives up to its potential.

Our resident exorcists are Angus, the de facto leader and oldest of the group; Larry, the second-in-command (fulfilling the Peter Venkman role); Elizabeth (Robyn Rikoon), the resident spitfire who casually sleeps around with Larry; Stephen (Andre Royo), the “accountant” of the group, who keep track of their ledger of sins; Eric (Dan Fogler), who not-so-secretly pines for Elizabeth and Macon (Macon Blair), the free-lovin’ Southern Baptist minister who’s obsessed with his pretty-boy looks. The group lives together, cracking wise and engaging in their various sins with gusto, living just like a parochial version of the Ghostbusters. Their antics may be necessary as far as keeping the world safe goes but they certainly don’t go over well with certain bureaucratic elements at the Vatican, as evidenced when holy pencil-pusher Clint (Stephen Gevedon) comes around to keep an eye on the wayward priests. He definitely approve of the drinking, drug use, fornicating and blasphemy but he seems to be even more irate over the inherent waste of funds: sinning be damned, the Hellbound Saints just don’t make good fiscal sense!

As with any film like this how, however, we know that our dutiful heroes will be needed even if their superiors don’t. They’re forced to spring into action when they get involved with one seriously badass demon, an elder god by the name of Surtr. It seems that Surtr is known as a “god-killer” and has roamed around eternity putting the snuff on other deities that it considers to be weaker. Surtr has now set his sets on the Judeo-Christian God and it’s up to Angus and his crew to stop it before all of Heaven is destroyed in the process. Things get complicated, however, when Elizabeth becomes possessed by Surtr but neglects to kill herself, giving the elder god an earthly vessel, as well as a convenient way to gain more followers (achieved via a noxious cloud of flies). Angus wants to kill Elizabeth in order to send Surtr to Hell. Larry, on the other hand, is in love with Elizabeth and would rather not see her suffer eternal damnation, despite it being pretty much her only job duty. With all of humanity on the line (or, at least, the Judeo-Christian portion), will love or duty win out?

For the first ten minutes or so of Hellbenders, I laughed so hard that I cried: no lie. The script is impossibly witty, choked with so much rapid-fire obscenity, bad behavior and juvenile attitude that it feels like one’s being pummeled by a prize-fighter armed with one-liners rather than fists. It’s a heady experience and, for a time, I was pretty sure this was going to be the funniest film I’d ever seen, hands down. And then, of course, the honeymoon was over and tedium began to set in: what was uproariously funny in a compressed ten minutes became wearing and tiresome over the sustained course of the film. This might sound like harsh criticism of the film and, in a way, I suppose that it is. It’s also, conversely, a big compliment: if you can stay on the film’s wavelength, it’s pretty much the apex of this type of movie. I ended up really liking the film but was disappointed, ultimately, because I didn’t love it: there was potential for so much more than was fully realized here and that kind of let me down.

Make no mistake, however: when Hellbenders is good, it’s pretty damn great. The acting is top-notch, from top to bottom, with Robyn Rikoon being particularly stellar as Elizabeth. It’s a great ensemble cast and they work together like a charm: in fact, the film really starts to come off the rails when it moves from the opening “bad priests hanging out” material into the more familiar “battling supernatural evil” territory. I’ve seen plenty of films that look exactly like the latter but precious few like the former: I really wish that we could have had a little more to get to know our priests before they were off butting heads with ancient evil in some rather clichéd fight scenes.

J.T. Petty directs the film based on his own graphic novel and there are plenty of points where the film actually feels like a big-screen comic book adaptation, not least of which is the odd moment where the film actually becomes a comic, complete with panels. That odd misstep aside, the film looks consistently great and features some pretty exemplary effects work. The film also ends up being pretty violent, which might seem like a given but is only odd when the majority of gore is loaded into the film’s conclusion: suffice to say that I was rather surprised to witness someone bite out another character’s eyes, although I was certainly forewarned when a nose was later chewed off in similar manner.

While I will freely admit that I disliked Petty’s debut feature, Soft For Digging (2001), with a zeal that I normally reserve for much shittier films, I’ve actually enjoyed the rest of his filmography quite a bit. In particular, I think that his 2008 horror-Western The Burrowers is an amazing, nearly perfect film that’s equal parts eulogy and nail-biting terror, although his found-footage experiment, S&man (2006), is an equally interesting, if substantially more flawed, production. Even though he’s never mentioned alongside the likes of current genre faves Ti West or Adam Wingard, I personally feel that Petty has the potential to be the best of the bunch, some day: The Burrowers is such a monumental achievement that I keep hoping it wasn’t his magnum opus.

Even though Hellbenders ends up in a much more familiar place than it begins, it’s still a ton of fun and seems perfect as a party/crowd film. There are plenty of glorious setpieces here, the overall storyline is pretty genius and the ensemble cast is superb, riffing off each other in near perfect synthesis. I wish that the film was able to sustain its gonzo tone longer than it does but I’m also reminded of the saying that the flame that burns twice as hot only burns half as long. Fair enough: Hellbenders is hot enough for most of its running time that I can forgive if it seems to fizzle out a bit before the conclusion. There appears to be hints at a sequel, however, which could easily take the film’s universe into some pretty awesome Hellboy-like territory. Sign me up! I may not have loved Petty’s Hellbenders but I liked it enough to anticipate the next installment. In the meantime, it’s good to know that we have people like Angus and his crew watching over us, keeping humanity safe one upraised middle finger at a time.

7/8/14: Buffalo Bill vs the Aliens

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aliens, Anne Roland, Banshee Chapter, Blair Erickson, Buffalo Bill, cinema, conspiracy theories, Fallen, feature-film debut, film reviews, films, flashbacks, found-footage, government secrets, Katia WInter, Michael McMillian, missing friend, MK-Ultra, Movies, mysterious broadcasts, radio broadcast, radio stations, sci-fi-horror, secret labs, Silence of the Lambs, Ted Levine, Thomas Blackburn, writer-director

After a distressingly rough opening, writer/director Blair Erickson’s modest sci-fi chiller, Banshee Chapter (2013) ends up settling into a pretty comfortable groove, thanks in no small part to an enjoyably over-the-top performance by none other than The Silence of the Lamb’s (1991) own Buffalo Bill, Ted Levine. Levine is pretty gonzo (pun intended) as a free-spirited writer who looks and acts a whole lot like Hunter S. Thompson and he, along with some pretty creepy ideas and visuals, manage to do a lot of the heavy lifting. There ends up being quite a lot of slack to take up here, though, thanks to a rather confusing script, some perspective issues regarding the found-footage aspect and an overly trite resolution. The film’s never dull, however, and even manages flashes of brilliance, from time to time, usually whenever Levine is snarfing up scenery.

Journalist Anne Roland (Katia Winter) is on the hunt for her old college friend, James (Michael McMillian), who’s gone missing after consuming some sort of experimental chemical known as MK-Ultra. We’ve already seen James get snatched by “something,” thanks to the rather stereotypical found-footage opening, so we’re one step ahead of poor Anne: things are strange and only going to get stranger.

After going to see a short-wave radio enthusiast, in order to identify the radio broadcast that can be heard during James’ recorded final minutes, Anne is introduced to the notion of “numbers stations”: short-wave radio stations that broadcast odd transmissions consisting of robotic voices (male, female and children, various languages) reading strings of numbers. In this case, Anne’s contact tells her that the best way to catch that particular station is to listen from the far side of the Black Rock Desert, sometime between 3-5 in the morning. She does and ends up hearing the broadcast for herself, along with catching a glimpse of “something” out in the darkness.

Properly spooked, Anne tracks down the person that she believes sent James the chemical, the aforementioned Thomas Blackburn (Ted Levine). Once she meets Blackburn, Anne really goes down the rabbit-hole, getting introduced to a new world of government conspiracies, secret tests and alternate dimensions. As Anne and Blackburn move from one clue to the next, they get closer to the original source of the MK-Ultra, the mysterious Dr. Kessel (Chad Brummett). The answers to all of Anne’s questions may be found within the abandoned walls of Kessel’s desert bunker…along with the keys to the destruction of mankind.

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: there’s a lot to like in Banshee Chapter but you have to be willing to wade through a bit of refuse to get there. For one thing, the film never really finds its footing as a found-footage film: too often, there are disingenuous moments, like non-digetic sound or subjective camera angles, that tend to throw a monkey-wrench into the machinery. The film is also terribly fond of loud musical stingers for jump scares and the ending, which manages to reference Fallen (1998), is kind of a mess.

Despite lots of issues, however, there are plenty of genuinely creepy moments in the film, not least of which is the moment where Anne goes to listen to the radio broadcast in the middle of desert. With her face lit only by the green dashboard light, the scene is a masterpiece of economy and subtly, wringing every last drop of tension possible out of the scenario. The desert bunker is also a pretty incredible location and is well-used in the film: good locations go along way toward making a horror film and Banshee Chapter has a few memorable ones. The overall idea is also pretty damn creepy: I’ve always been fascinated by numbers stations and the film weaves their mythology into the storyline in some pretty smart ways, arriving at a final reveal that I really wish hadn’t been let down by the pedestrian finale.

More than anything, however, Ted Levine’s performance as Blackburn is a huge check mark in the “asset” column for the film. I’m hard-pressed to remember anything that Levine has been in, aside from Silence of the Lambs, but he’s absolutely fantastic in Banshee Chapter, even if he’s basically playing his own version of Johnny Depp’s version of Hunter S. He’s quick-witted, genuinely funny, just outrageous enough to be believable and never less than completely committed to the role. If anything, I wish that there had been more Blackburn in the film: making him the protagonist may have given the film the extra edge it needed to truly excel. As it is, however, Levine is one very big reason to give the film a shot.

First-time writer/director Erickson does quite a bit right on his debut feature, even if he also manages to trip more than a time or two. More than anything, his script shows a willingness to take some pretty familiar concepts (found-footage, government conspiracies, secret medical facilities) and take them into some fairly original new places. If he’s less successful than he could be, this (hopefully) hints at lots of room to grow and improve in the future. While Banshee Chapter is no hidden masterpiece, it’s a consistently watchable, often unnerving chiller that features a handful of truly interesting ideas, a great performance by Levine and some really creepy locations. It also might make you think twice about those strange, fuzzed-out stations that you can sometimes almost hear, wafting through the universe on a warm, summer night.