So let’s all indulge into some candy, laugh, drink and talk about news and some spooky thoughts we had recently as well make fun of those shitty Hollywood scumbags on this episode of the Simplistic Reviews Podcast.
Pro tip: DRUGS would help the experience of “Mandy.” But even without DRUGS, this flick from the director of “Beyond the Black Rainbow” and son of the guy that directed the ever-excellent “Tombstone,” Panos Cosmatos is all about Nicolas Cage and his descent into madness after a sex cult kills his fantasy-loving wife and destroys his peaceful existence.
The imagery is fascinating, the score one of the best from the late, Johann Johannsson, and if you love grindhouse and acid trip type cinema from the 70s and 80s, this very well might be the “Citizen Kane” of the genre.
The violence is brutal and gory, which I love, and if you like to see Nic Cage flip out “Kiss of the Vampire” style with a touch of “Face/Off” and a pinch of “The Wicker Man,” oh boy are you in for a treat.
I know that a lot of people are making the comparison to “The Wicker Man” for Netflix’s “Apostle” but to me there is a lot more resemblance to RESIDENT Evil.
Evil cult, weird dude with a crazy mask and usually a large weapon, and a ton of gore, this is totally “Resident Evil 4.”
Gareth Evans uses some great tension and set pieces to create a super creepy story that makes his short from “V/H/S/2” seem like child’s play and the standout performances of Michael Sheen and Mark Lewis Jones, this is one of the better Netflix’s original films in quite a while.
They sure don’t make ’em like they used to make flicks like “Night of the Comet.” But man, re-watching this one made me think of all the other films, TV shows, and even video games “Comet” had to have had or influence on, or at least gave a bit of INSPIRATION.
There are a lot of head fakes in this film, and just when you think it’s going to be a straight up survival story of two teenage girls trying to fight off mutants effected by a passing comet it turns into a scientific conspiracy. It’s wacky, but for some reason there is something so tacky, weird, and genuine about “Comet.”
I recommend this to anyone who likes the FOX show “The Last Man on Earth,” played “Dead Rising” or if you just like odd like B-films from the 80s with a quirky sense of humor and, hell, even some pretty solidly written female characters.
After so much build-up, and i assume just my nervousness, apprehension, but unbridled love for the”Halloween” series, I guess the TORCH has been officially passed to a new generation, and it’s just something that I’m going to have to face.
That isn’t to say that I don’t like what David Gordon Greene and Danny McBride have done here, but after watching this series for nearly 25 years of my life, or as long as I can remember renting “Halloween 4” from the video store on a weekly basis, it’s odd seeing a modern take on something that I hold very dear. Erasing an entire mythology and basically saying everything you know hasn’t happened, I liken it to how many “Star Wars” fans felt after “The Last Jedi.”
However, through the mist, I do like the homages to some of the other films, and at least there is a decent explanation and reason how we got from 1978 to 2018, kind of a weak reason, but a reason nonetheless. But boy, there are some plot devices that just don’t quite work for me, and aren’t as earned for me as they might be for other people. But hey, what else can I expect from a horror remake, right?
Parting shot, not a huge fan of the re-done “Halloween” theme. Too busy, too much production, and it loses the synth-soul that the original had…
In order to expedite the process, and since I feel it appropriate to connect these two films together, I’m giving you guys a two-fer today with the EGO project that you might call “Rob Zombie’s Halloween and Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2” “H2,” regardless, call it what you will.
The long and short and Zombie’s vision is that it isn’t horrible. It’s shot expertly, makes you feel real grimy, like you are watching a documentary about Michael Myers and how he become the sister murdering, babysitter slaying enigma we know today, or if Zombie has anything to do with it, no longer an enigma.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times; the allure, at least to me, is that there is no reason for Michael Myers or why he kills…he’s pure evil. I don’t need an entire half of one film telling me how bad of a childhood Mikey had, I don’t need it.
Oh, and you’ll find this fun. With all the different versions of each film floating around, its a cool game to see what version you like since they could all impact each film and how it’s perceived. I thought the Theatrical and TV version of “Halloween 2” was enough, geesh!
Sorry, let me step off my white horse…
What can be said about “Halloween: Resurrection.” This is a horror film firmly trapped and a victim of it’s own era, and it honestly feels like the inmates are running the asylum while director Rick Rosenthal is tied up in a closet somewhere.
You would think that four years between “H20” and “Resurrection” something special could have been created, but instead we get the worst Michael Myers mask in the film’s history, Busta Rhymes doing kung-fu and delivering and epic SPEECH about who Michael Myers isn’t a headline or a news story, but instead a killer shark…yeah, that what we got this time around.
In the very least, “Resurrection” should give you a good laugh by how inane the dialogue is written and delivered by the cast, so I guess you can say this is by far the funniest edition in the series, which really says a lot…oh, but at least Katee Sackhoff is pretty rad.
To be fair, this was the first time in a long, very long, time I actually sat down and watched “Halloween: H20.” And honestly, it’s not as bad as “The Curse of Michael Myers” and Dimension Films hedges their bets on a new crop of heartthrobs, WB drama starlets, and oh yeah, this is the first of two films where we get to see the acting talents of hip-hop royalty, namely LL Cool J in this film.
Seeing Jamie Lee Curtis back in the fold is fun and shows that she never forgot what film shot her to stardom, unlike some actors that like to forget that they were in a horror film…*cough*…Kevin*cough*Bacon*cough*
But after some atrocious outings, and this being the 20th anniversary, there was certainly an OBLIGATION to right the ship.
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