Carnage Park (2016)

Summary :
Part crime caper gone awry, part survival horror film, this 1970s set thriller depicts a harrowing fight for survival after a pair of wannabe crooks botch a bank heist and flee into the desert, where they inexplicably stumble upon Carnage Park, a remote stretch of wilderness occupied by a psychotic ex-military sniper.

Genre : Crime/Horror
Country : USA

Cast :
Ashley Bell : Vivian
Pat Healy : Wyatt Moss
James Landry Hebert : Scorpion Joe

Director : Mickey Keating

My opinion : 

“Brothers burn faster when they're burnin' together.”

The only positive thing about this film was Pat Healy as the crazy ex-marine Wyatt Moss, who set up his own personal amusement park somewhere in the bone-dry desert in California where he lures lost backpackers and hunts them down as a real psychotic hunter. He gratefully uses his talent as a sniper during these chases. The few times he speaks in this movie, show that he's ready for the nuthouse. Especially the dialogue with his brother, Sheriff Moss (Alan Ruck), is a memorable moment with that intonation and those facial expressions. Wyatt gave me the chills here, acting as a real psychopath. Just because of this scene, I'm planning to watch some more films with Healy playing in it.

I also thought that the sometimes eerie soundtrack and sound clips reverberating from the megaphones weren't so bad. They emphasized the insane mind of Wyatt. But otherwise this was a meaningless crime film, starring a madman fascinated by religion, who has his own safari park where victims try to survive. Thus a typical survival film. The last victim here is Vivian (Ashley Bell). She was kidnapped by two layabouts who tried to rob a bank and ended up in Carnage Park. It isn't very original and to be honest, there isn't happening that much essentially. It's during her stumbling flight that Vivian discovers other victims. And surely you can expect some fragments that are similar to those in other famous horror movies.

The thing that amazes me everytime, is the stupidity of the main character. When you take matters into your own hand, make damn sure you do it thoroughly. Such a madman wouldn't get a second chance with me. But no, Wyatt with his gas mask (which reminded me of a CD cover from "Therapy?") resurfaces once again and the cat and mouse game restarts. And a cat could well have an advantage in this game, because it was largely pitch dark in this film. Several times I checked if the power went down, because in the end I couldn't see Jack shit most of the time. Also, the attempt to emulate the feel of a 70's movie wasn't really succesful.

Actually, you can compare this with Mickey Keating's previous creation "Pod". Also, a so-called horror with potential. Good intentions are clearly present and there are also some positive aspects can be seen, but ultimately it's all vague and disappointing. Even downright violence and bloody fragments can't prevent it's becoming pretty boring and tedious halfway. Not to mention the announcement that this film is based once again on true facts. That won't make it an exciting movie, unfortunately.

My rating 3/10
Links : IMDB

Equals (2015)

Summary :
In an emotionless utopia, two people fall in love when they regain their feelings from a mysterious disease, causing tensions between them and their society.

Genre : SF/Romance
Country : USA

Cast :
Nicholas Hoult : Silas
Kristan Stewart : Nia
Guy Pearce : Jonas

Director : Drake Doremus

My opinion :   

“I'd like to start you on a full course of inhibitors immediately.
There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to live a normal life.
At least for a while.” 

Kristen Stewart isn't exactly on my list of favorite actresses. As I wrote in my review of "Snow White and the Huntsman" : "She shows almost no emotion and I'm convinced she dips her face in starch before walking onto the set". But regarding this film, she was most suited. A postwar society (indeed, again after a devastating war) in which all the survivors their DNA has been manipulated in such a way that all feelings are gone. No impulsive behavior. No depression, pain or overwhelming feelings. No more feelings of lust, love, hate, jealousy and joy. Numb beings, functioning on autopilot. Their only purpose in life is to explore space. However, there are people who suffer from a particular syndrome which returns repressed feelings and causes them to react differently to certain situations and develop primitive feelings again. Such as the craving for eroticism (something that is completely forbidden). This disease is called S.O.S. (Switched-On Syndrome) and there's no adequate medication for this syndrome. Most patients end up in "the den" (defective, emotional, neuropathy facility). The only cure there is to encourage suicide. 

Sounds pretty depressing. And on the one hand it surely is a bleak and dreary society in a clinical white environment, with every feeling or pleasure nipped in the bud. Everyone lives individualistic in a high-tech Cubist house that responds to the necessary basic needs. And every day, everyone goes to work in a casual and comatic way. A bit like in "Metropolis". On the other hand it seems to me as a blessing to be rid of annoying human traits such as jealousy, envy and competitivity. It's in this utopian ( "Oblivion" -like) society that an impossible and forbidden love emerges. A loaded and (for them) exciting resurgence of an irresistible attraction between Silas (Nicholas Hoult) and Nia (Kristen Stewart). Naturally, all the ingredients of an impossible love are present, as in multiple other films about this topic. Only this is now soaked in a SF sauce. And the universal rule that love overcomes everything, is of course also present.

Despite the romantic aspect and the fact that "Equals" is a huge slow-burner, this film was extremely fascinating to me. Not because of the subject, but because of the overall visual image. Everything looks, despite its simplicity, overwhelming. The overall picture was spot on. And then there's this subdued, wait and see attitude of the two protagonists, which is depicted in a restrained but extremely adequate way. You can truly feel how they experienced that first touch. How painful it is to suppress the overwhelming feelings. And how wrenching it is to be separated. Superb acting by Hoult and Stewart. I have a little more respect for Hoult, because Stewart just needed to be herself to achieve this, I reckon.

It's been a long time since I enjoyed once again a pure SF without intergalactic battlefields and an abundance of special effects. However, many will say this movie is dull and superficial because of the lack of exciting action and sensational imagery. I, however, loved the simplicity the most. Tucked beneath this simplicity, however, there's a complex human process that everyone faces once anyway.

My rating 7/10
Links : IMDB

They found hell (2015)

Summary :
When a group of gifted college students run a secret teeleportation experiment, they accidentally open a portal to another dimension, trapping them in hell. One by one they are hunted, tortured and killed by the denizens of hell who are bent on stealing their souls.

Genre : Horror/SF
Country : USA

Cast :
Kabby Borders : Ava
Mirela Burke : Lucia
Hunter Canedy : Ward

Director : Nick Lyon

My opinion :   

"Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here."

"They found hell" isn't a cryptic or symbolic movie title. It's just literally where a group of students ended up in this 80's feeling Science Fiction horror. After ten minutes you realize that this isn't a spectacular release for major cinemas. It's a film suitable for the SyFy channel. Not only because it contains some absurdities or because of the somewhat dated special effects, but also due to the poor acting as well. But despite these shortcomings, I still managed to sit out the entire film.

The most striking feature of this movie is the ridiculous short intro. After some craters appear in Russia (no idea how they turned up there and don't expect any explanation) a group of young people hurry back to their lab to resume a kind of experiment with a teleporter. Before they know it, another flaming crater appears again (pitifully bad effects by the way) and almost the entire gang is drawn into this devilish hole. The lack of any explanation about the nature and purpose of this experiment caused the first irritation. Apparently the absence of all this is necessary to get the teenagers as fast as possibly there where they should be. And that's hell.

 

A devilish intro, so to speak. And that it's hell where they ended up, is emphasized in the dialogue between the group members. The second irritation moment. It was a bit too much for me after hearing these ambiguous statements for the umpteenth time: "What the hell?", "Where the hell are we?", "What the hell happened?" and "It's hot as hell down here". And hearing for the thousandth time someone calling for help (meanwhile they surely realized it wasn't really clever to yell loudly in this place) began to get on my nerves as well. And believe me, I lost count of how many times "Oh my God" was used. Were they hoping for help from a devine, heavenly person? It was obvious they were in hell. This was as clear as daylight after they deciphered a Latin phrase that was written above a wooden gate: "Omens relinquite spes, o vos intrantes". A quote from Dante which was eventually spelled wrong as well.

And yet there were also some positive points in this mediocre movie. I thought the decors were very successful at times. A chaotic and terrifying place where the victims were confronted with their own fears. They ended up in different places, which resulted in different angles of incidence. I got a real "Dungeon Keeper" feeling when watching this. Especially the demonic and repulsive-looking "collector", pulling a rickety cart full of rotting corpses, was magnificent. The ferryman who could provide a possible way out (after paying of course) looked rather spooky. Some scenes were similar to those of other famous movies such as "Evil Dead" and "Saw". Expect also some gore fragments (which were mostly a bit exaggerated).

As befits a true B-movie, the performances were simply mediocre and at times really annoying. Most of them were unknown actors. And the final climax lay in the line of the entire film. Also incomprehensible and unexplained. Maybe it wasn't the best SF/Horror, but I've seen worse. That's for sure.

My rating 5/10
Links : IMDB

Midnight Special (2016)

Summary :
Alton Meyer is a boy unlike any other in the world with bizarrely powerful abilities and strange weaknesses. In the middle of the night, his father, Roy, spirits him away from the isolated cult that practically worships him and is determined to regain him at all costs. At the same time, Alton's abilities have been noticed by the US government as well and they are equally insistent on getting to the bottom of this mystery with Paul Sevier of the National Security Agency leading the Federal pursuit with his own questions. These rival hunts force father and son into a desperate run towards a looming date with destiny that could change everything.

Genre : SF
Country : USA/Greece

Cast :
Jaeden Lieberher : Alton
Michael Shannon : Roy
Allira Jaques : Lucas

Director : Chris Sun

My opinion : 

“You all have no clue of what you’re dealing with, do you?”

Fascinating. Intriguing. Mysterious. Captivating. These are words that crossed my mind after watching this quirky SF. "Midnight Special" seemed to be nothing special. But at the same time it contains something special. The atmosphere of secrecy that is noticeably present from the beginning, creates an intensely long trip full of mystery and intrigue. That underlying tension will resonate for a long time until the final offensive deploys and all questions are being answered. But believe me, most of the time you'll be sitting perplexed in front of your screen, while wondering what the hell is going on.

The strength of the film is the way in which they reveal as little as possible. The story unfolds itself painfully slow. Roy (Michael "The Iceman" Shannon) and Lucas (Joel "Exodus: Gods and Kings" Edgerton) behave like thieves in the night while they drag the young boy Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) from motel to motel. Apparently this is a kidnapping, as said on all the news channels. However, when you see how relaxed Alton undergoes all of this, it doesn’t look like a kidnapping. And certainly not as Roy appears to be the father of this strange boy, who’s reading his comics with a flashlight under his sheets and who’s wearing goggles constantly. The fact that the motel room is made completely sealed of from light by means of cardboard, will make you scratch your head for the first time already. Clearly those two adult guys would do anything to protect Alton and make sure he doesn’t fall into the hands of those who are following them.

Seems like a whole group of people are interested in the boy. First, there's a religious sect. They've constructed an entire religion around the boy with his special gifts. He's a kind of savior for them who'd be handy during a future apocalypse. The FBI is also looking for Alton and deports the entire sect to a secluded sporthall to interrogate them about him. Even the NSA sends an expert (Adam "Kylo Ren" Driver) because apparently the prophecies of Alton, which were used for sermons used by the cult leader (Sam Shepard), contain top secret government information. So you have a lot of enigmatic narratives that coalesce in an ingenious way into a combined endpoint.

The positive side of "Midnight Special" is its purity. SF without too many glitzy technological marvels. A mix of sentimentality and no-nonsense fiction. Roy's willingness to sacrifice himself for his son feels genuine. Roy and Luke are much like those apostles who were hanging out with Jezus. An irrefutable belief in Alton and a total submission to achieve a greater goal. The first part is also a display of the self-sacrifice and perseverance during their flight. Some magnificent acting and a touching father-son relationship. There's a limited use of CGI. The characters of the key figures tell the story. I wouldn't call it low budget entirely. Especially when seeing some well-known actors show up like Bill Camp, Paul Sparks and Kirsten Dunst. The end was a bit of a letdown. The quirky feeling of the movie is a bit ruined by the less successful "Tomorrowland"-like denouement. The peerless content and intriguing mystery that was created patiently, was instantly reduced to something superficial. A meaningless slip-up. All in all this was a whopper of a sciencefiction that'll be difficult to surpass. And certainly one that I'll rewatch someday. 

 

My rating 7/10
Links : IMDB