Don't Breathe

Fede Alvarez, 2016

IMDB

2/5

Don't Breathe has the problems that so many of the horror thrillers have that are churned out these days. Starting off with an unrealistic grouping of people. You have beautiful girl Rocky (Jane Levy) who is supposed to be trailer trash but doesn't look like the product of any trailer park anyone's ever seen before. You have straight clean cut Alex (Dylan Minnette) who it just so happens that his father works at the alarm company so he has the master key to every customers house they rob. Then you have dirtbag kid Money (Daniel Zovatto) with the vulgar mouth who is the romantic interest of the trailer girl. The chemistry on screen matches the believability of the couple. Zovatto was really great in last year's It Follows, but is awfully miscast here. Certainly not his fault. The Money character is just downright annoying and one dimensional.

For a while they are burglarizing homes and staying under a $10K theshold - so that if they get caught they can't be charged with grand larceny. Then they hear about a house owned by a blind man that is rumored to have $300,000 in cash. This money was obtained through a settlement after his daughter was killed in a car accident. They look at this job as their big opportunity, the one that they have been waiting for. The last job. With this money Rocky and Money can go to California together. it's their ticket out of Detroit.

So they descend upon the house. But I had forgotten to mention that the blind man is a decorated army vet. But of course the trio doesn't care. It's not like being in the Army prepares you for any type of combat situation; oh WAIT that's exactly what it does. Oh yeah, and when you are blind all of your other senses are heightened. To the films credit, some of the moments inside the house are tense. Reminiscent of Hitchcock's work. The concept of burglarizing a blind man's home and him putting up a fight is actually quite original and intriguing. Alvarez should get some credit for good direction but some criticism for such a weak script. First off, you are supposed to believe that the only reason Alex is really helping them is because he has a crush on Rocky. Otherwise, there is no single reason he would get involved. He's a normal middle class kid who would have no reason to get mixed up with the other two. This makes Alex less greedy than them, and when things start to turn south he bails on the blind man's house. But he hears gunshots and comes back. How many times are we going to let the hero return to the house in horror movies? It's not much different than running up the stairs. Oh yeah, that happens here too. If you were in a blind man's house and you were trying to disorient him to escape, instead of running couldn't you just throw things all around and confuse him? What also needs to be mentioned is this house is located in a completely abandoned section of Detroit which conveniently creates a situation where there is no police presence. So this takes care of that constant gun shots being fired problem that might draw attention.

Don't Breathe is a disappointment. Last year's It Follows taught us that some creative horror films can come out of nowhere where new things can be done. After seeing all of the positive reviews related to this film I thought this could have been this years It Follows. Boy was I mistaken.



There is a reveal about 3/4 of the way through the film that I have to acknowledge. But this is borderline spoiler material so read on at your own risk.

Cold in July

Jim Mickle, 2014

IMDB

3/5

Any fan of Dexter probably believes that Michael C. Hall has paid his dues enough to give his future work a shot. Even those (I among one of them) who gave up in the final season on the mostly great series. That wasn’t his fault. Dexter showed he is a guy who has range, constantly having to shift from the unassuming blue collar guy to the struggling-to-keep-restrained serial killer. And although in tone Cold in July is a dark film, it’s quite a departure from his work on Dexter. His character Dane is an everyman character, mullet and all, living in Texas as a picture framer working out of a mom and pop storefront. Awoken in the middle of the night by an intruder in his home, he impulsively takes action to protect his family and finds that his life is immediately turned upside down. What transpires is an attempt to return his life to it’s normalcy, but he soon finds that the disruption in the routine has shaken things up to a point that he can’t help but venture into the depths of the mystery surrounding that intruder.

This pursuit leads him to the company of two men, Russel (Sam Shepard) and Jim-Bob (Don Johnson), men who are living the complete opposite life as himself but men that he can’t seem to distance himself from. And while there are moments where your eyebrow is raised, wondering why Dane doesn’t just move on with his life and let sleeping dogs lie - it sort of makes sense. It sort of makes sense that he is hungry for some disruption from the routine. And also a sense of closure on everything. Cold in July is an ultimately satisfying film, not without it’s flaws. You are introduced to Russel quite abruptly without much explanation, you really have to do the quick work yourself to realize who he is. But the movie is well shot, sounds good (especially with the period-fitting synthwave soundtrack). And the chemistry between the three men are enough to fuel your engagement. When does Sam Shepard NOT deliver?

Funny Games

Michael Haneke, 1997

IMDB

4/5

There is inexplicable evil in the world. We have seen it in the headlines, have to endure stories of home invasions, torture, assault, etc. We try to come up with explanations for people's horrible behavior. Their abusive upbringing, past sexual abuse, lack of a father figure.

Funny Games quickly introduces you to family trio of Anna, Georg and their young son in their car on their way to their vacation home in the country. As they try to guess classical pieces playing on CD's, you see that they are a classy family that enjoy each others company. When they arrive at the home, you see that they want nothing more than to just let loose and spend some time relaxing, once again in each others company. The walls and gate at the end of the driveway almost seem completely unnecessary, as the surrounding inhabitants look they should all belong to a country club. And they probably do.

But when the evil couple works their way into the home, everything about their intentions feels icy cold and calculating. You've already grown to like the family of three, what's not to like? You even like their dog. But what transpires is pure evil. A rigidly tense sequences of events of unforgiving brutality. The scariest people in the world are undoubtedly the ones who have nothing to lose. In a way the sinister duo here are more frightening, because they are seemingly one of the more accurate depictions of pure sociopaths ever put on film. When the fourth wall is broken, it sends chills down your spine. You will spend a portion of the film questioning possible missed opportunities, probably playing out the scenario in your head of what you would do. But we don't really know do we? Until it happens to us, and after watching a film like this you will certainly be locking your doors at night. But is it enough? Is that what's the most horrifying part about this movie? These people, like the pair here, if they weren't able to work their way through the gate... would they have given up? One would assume no. Sometimes you are just the unlucky one that left a light on at the wrong time. Wrong place, wrong time. Wrong week to take a vacation. Sometimes it's not just about someone feeling wronged in some way. Sometimes it's completely impersonal. As mentioned earlier, there is pure evil in the world. There are some people walking the earth who are just downright maniacal. We all like to believe that we live in a world where there is a certain sense of justice. Funny Games is one of the more terrifying films ever made because it challenges the conventions.

Nightcrawler

Dan Gilroy, 2014

Can I Stream it?

3/5

Night owl Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) struggles to find any form of employment until he is excited to discover an underworld group who films newsworthy events and sells the footage to the local television outlets.

Nightcrawler is a menacing nocturnal thriller, with Jake Gyllenhaal channeling a manic energy thats sort of a blend of Travis Bickle and Patrick Bateman with the inappropriate persistence of a TMZ reporter with his Louis Bloom character. But to be fair, Gyllenhaal makes Louis his own and really gives him his own place in the world of deranged movie characters. From the get go, Louis is a difficult character to get behind. He scrapes by, stealing scrap copper and trying to flip it in yards under strict and personally disciplined negotiation. His social cues are a bit unpolished to say the least. Bags under his eyes, with almost an Uncle Fester like purpleness to them. He's a man still trying to find his place in the world. And his world isn't in the daytime. His world is the night-fallen Los Angeles, when all of the shady people come out to play. When he encounters a scene of an accident and sees that there is actually a job where people capture those critical moments for a quick buck, he's hooked on the spot. This form of employment suits Louis quite well, because he is undoubtedly a sociopath. He doesn't hesitate to get right in there with a camera, regardless of the pain or the seriousness of the situation. He is numb to the levity of the situation. His cold shell gets peeled away layer by layer over the course of the film, giving you the impression that you will eventually be exposed to some kind of warmth by Louis. But no, the layers only expose more apathy. Louis is callous, calculating, self serving. He looks upon these crime scenes with open eyes, and nothing behind those chilled eyes feels concerned or empathetic. Perhaps that's one of the most conflicting parts of the story. Sort of difficult to become genuinely concerned about a character like Louis. But much like Taxi Driver, the story isn't really about you getting behind Louis. You sit back and watch in awe. Nightcrawler somehow finds a new way to look at Los Angeles. Gyllenhaal delivers possibly the best performance of his career. He's really showing that he's working on himself as actor, trying to evolve. He's come a long way from Bubble Boy. Nightcrawler is a meditation on our culture of rubber-necking and giving priority to the horrific train-wreck-like events on our TV screens . But it also explores morality through the eyes of a maniac.

The Purge: Anarchy

James DeMonaco, 2014

Can I Stream it?

1/5

This sequel to the 2013 film, which was also directed by DeMonaco, focuses on a group of people caught outside in Los Angeles at night in the middle of the annual Purge. The man attempting to lead the group to safety (Frank Grillo) is eager to break away from the group to seek revenge on a man who walked free from a prosecution error.

How does a filmmaker expect you to get behind a group of characters that provide virtually no likability? It's surely the biggest pitfall of the film. Because you don't care about them. The annoying couple. The barely developed pair of women with the ambiguously ailing father. Instead of any maturation, the film becomes an elaborate torture-porn piece displaying a highlight reel of violence. It attempts to build upon the premise of the original Purge film by providing more bullets, a bigger backdrop, but it provides less structure. Maybe DeMonaco needs those four walls. It's like a crippled version of Escape from New York, without Snake Plissken or the surprisingly awesome Carpenter score. The annoyances don't cease with the characters themselves. There's that annoying situation where no bullets seem to hit their target, even though it's high capacity assault rifles firing in a specific direction. The film attempts to explore some class warface issues, but from the second you see the traffic cams in the tractor trailer you get a clear sense of what's going on. The original Purge film was running on a plot that was contained and interesting enough to keep you engaged. And oddly enough it felt like it could have been bigger. Anarchy attempts to go bigger but it's clear that DeMonaco is not the man for the job.

The Purge

James DeMonaco, 2013

Can I Stream it?

3/5

Once a year America participates in The Purge, a 12 hour window in which all crime (including murder) is legal. Home Security salesman James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) believes his home will be the safest, most fortified home on the block - until it becomes a target for a group of Purgers looking for a homeless man that his son Charlie (Max Burkholder) welcomed inside to safety.

The Purge is a film constructed off a very provocative high-concept story-line that was probably not put into the right Director's hands. DeMonaco is responsible for the pretty good 1998 thriller The Negotiator, so he has demonstrated some skills of juggling some complicated story. But instead of taking a more satirical approach to this film, DeMonaco goes in more of a horror-thriller direction, probably because the studios figured that would put a lot of teenagers in movie seats. The film attempts to explore concepts of morality, of civil disobedience, but ultimately on a middle-school level.

With that being said, the concept is still interesting enough to maintain your attention. It will probably have you vicariously living through the characters to a certain extent, playing out what you would do if The Purge were actually a real-life thing. But it's certainly a conflicting film. It probably could have been a much bigger film, with more of a macro feel. Instead they put all of the weight onto the Sandin home. If they spent some time outside of the McMansion, it could have painted a more elaborate picture really displaying the grand scale of the nationwide event. There also should have been a clock ticking throughout the film. It would have contributed to the tension, and would also let you keep your bearings. By the time the home is infiltrated, hysteria ensues and you never really have a sense of whether its late night or early hours of the morning. But nothing is more obnoxious about the film than the end credits with the medicre narrative playing out. "They are calling this the best Purge ever! There are bodies everywhere". Ugh. At least hire a better writer there. Or just have no spoken words. That would have been less irritating. The Purge somehow manages to cushion it's imperfections with it's alluring storyline.