This week I had a four day week-end, so I spent most of it doing what I do best. Nothin' but watchin' stuff on Netflix. I finally saw a few films and tv shows I had been meaning to for a while, two of which I'm going to review today. The few thing these films have in common is that both were huge at film festivals, and both are extremely gory and 100% not for children. This week I'm reviewing...
I SAW THE DEVIL
PLOT
Set in South Korea, Kim Soo-hyeon, a police officer, discovers that his pregnant wife has been brutally murdered by a sadistic serial killer named Jang Kyung-chul. Kim is given 2 weeks leave from his job and he uses this time to track down the killer and get his revenge. Once he finds Jang, he beats and tortures him to near death and then lets him go. Kim's plan is to now hunt down Jang, torture him, stop when he's almost dead, then leave him so he can come back and do it again.
PROS
Even though this is a foreign movie and I had to read subtitles, I could still tell the performances were amazing. Everyone gives their all and the performances are never lost in translation.
Director Jee-woon Kim saves this movie from being another torture fest by adding style to this film. There are some remarkable and unforgettable sequences in this film. One example is a scene where Jang is in a cab with the driver and another passenger. At one point, Jang pulls out his knife and starts cutting both people in the car. As this is going on, the camera is spinning around the action, letting it play out and never shying away from the blood.
The film is very graphic and full of disturbing and cringe worth imagery, but what keeps it from being another "Saw" or "Texas Chainsaw" remake is that there's more to it than the gore. While I will admit the violence can get excessive, it's not a huge problem because we care about the characters and what's going to happen to them, making the bloody scenes feel tense and meaningful to the story.
There's a great cat and mouse or hunter has become the hunted aspect to the film, but what sets it apart is the new spin they put on the formula by asking the question who's the true psycho here, the serial killer, or the police officer. It's a wonderful dynamic that had me questioning myself. There's even a point halfway through where the Kim becomes the villain and Jang the victim.
The score (or soundtrack, I'm not sure which) is awesome. It's a very cool sound that I kept noticing throughout the film.
CONS
The film runs a bit too long at almost 2 hours and 30 min. While it never slows down, it just gets tiring after a while.
CONCLUSION
This is a bloody, sick, revenge flick. But it's also a thoughtful and engaging one too. It shows that you can have great story and characters in the middle of awesome gore and violence and still be entertaining, if you want to call it that. Overall, this is a great revenge film that's certainly not for the faint of heart.
RATING
WALK TO
V/H/S
PLOT
A group of bro, frat house guys are hired by an unknown third-party to break into an old man's house and steal a rare VHS tape. Once they're inside, they find the old man dead in his chair in front of many T.V.s and tons of random VHS tapes. They start watching what's on the tapes and find five chilling tales of found footage horror full of creatures, ghosts, and death.
This is another one that I'm going to have to do a little differently See, "V/H/S" is an anthology, found footage horror film, which means it has six different short segments put into one feature film. So I'm just going to go over each section in it's own independent review of sorts. Alright, let's get started.
Amateur Night (David Bruckner)
Three friends go out drinking one night with the intention of picking up chicks. They've installed a wed-cam into one of their glasses to capture it because ..college guys are dumb. Anyway, they go out, have a fun time, but they pick up this one girl who looks and feels very strange and all she can say, in a very creepy way I might add, is "I like you". It soon turns out there's more devious things at work here. This was good way of starting out the film. It's creepy, interesting, and has one heck of a finale. The effects are done extremely well and the camera movements aren't too insane. A problem is that it has too much of "BRO" mentality to it. What I mean is that the guys we follow are the stereotype "Jersey Shore" bros but even more extreme and annoying. It makes it kinda hard to care what happens to them. I do have some other things to say about this one, but I won't dare spoil it here. I'll just say that whatever was wrong with girl will haunt me for the rest of my days.
Second Honeymoon (Ti West)
A couple on their second honeymoon go to the American west and stop in a small town and stay in a motel. While there, they find a Wild West themed fortune teller who gives the wife a cryptic message about reuniting with a lost loved one. This is the worst of the bunch. If the plot sounds vague, that's because I wasn't sure what to write. Nothing happens in this segment until the confused twist ending that feels forced and out of place in terms of the story. Overall, it's just a boring forgettable mess.
TUESDAY the 17th (Glenn McQuaid)
A group of college kids are going to an old lake and camp site that one of the people in the group used to go to all the time. Once there, they soon discover that there was a horrible unsolved killing spree that happened at this lake, as the teens are soon killed off. This one has an interesting concept that falls short due to it's cast. The killer in question is really cool and legitimately creepy, even if we don't know who or what he/she/it is. The segment's ultimate downfall is the teens. They, like the first segment, have a terrible case of "BRO" DGAS (Don't Give a S#*t Syndrome). Once they're getting killed off, you just don't care. It looks cool, sure, but it just has no emotional residence. And a characters secret motivation is reveled and it just seems stupid. It doesn't make sense and seems illogical. Either way, this is a good short and a welcome change from the horrible second segment.
The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger (Joe Swanberg)
Emily and James are a couple who have been away from each other for a while and talk through Skype or some other video chat service. While talking about a weird bump on her arm, Emily starts hearing strange noises in her apartment. Once she goes to investigate, paranormal things start to happen and are all caught by her boyfriend. This, like the third segment, has an interesting concept. A haunted apartment story from the perspective of the guy stuck in the corner video chat box. It has some creepy moments and seems like it's leading up to something good, but then it has a confused twist ending. While it doesn't ruin the segment, it does cause it to lose some of its scariness. Some people may not have a problem with it, but I personally thought it would've been better without the twist ending.
10/31/98 (Radio Silence)
On Halloween night, a group of friends go to a house party at a really cool looking house. When they get there though, there's no one at the house. They start to see weird stuff, but thing it's just a cool haunted house, when in reality there's something more going on. This is the highlight of the film and the biggest reason to sit through the other four segments. It's creepy, funny, realistic, and has an awesome finale with everything including the kitchen sink thrown at you, literally. While this also has the "BRO" mentality, it doesn't bother you as much because these guys are a) drunk and b) doing all the stuff you would do in that situation. I cannot stress how amazing this segment is and how promising the directing quartet "Radio Silence" is looking right now. It's the perfect way to end the film, by ending it on a high note.
Tape 56 (Adam Wingard) (Sorry, No Poster Available)
This is the segment that ties all the others together and the one described the the first plot synopsis. This is very close to either being the worst or second worst. You don't care about any of the characters, since they spend the first 10 minutes of the movie showing how horrible these people are, and it has a twist that you can figure out by the end of the second segment. The last part of the film was originally the ending scene of this story, which I'm so happy they changed because "Radio Silence"'s segment is such a better one to end on. Overall, it's just filler until the next story and feels rushed.
CONCLUSION
"V/H/S" is a hard film to rate. It has many ups and just as many downs having multiple segments made by multiple different people. It has its shinning moments, like "10/31/98", and its utter failures, but overall it's worth sitting through the crap just to see the great stuff. One last note, this film has a hard "R" rating, meaning it is very gory and full of nudity, so keep your kids and faint of heart away.
RATING
RENTABLE
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