Oct 18 2017

Movie Reviews 101 Midnight Halloween Horror – 100 Bloody Acres (2012)

Director: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes

Writer: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes (Screenplay)

Starring: Damon Herriman, Angus Sampson, Anna McGahan, Oliver Ackland, Jamie Kristian, John Jarratt

Plot: Reg and Lindsay run an organic fertiliser business. They need a fresh supply of their “secret ingredient” to process through the meat grinder. Reg comes across two guys and a girl with a broken-down vehicle on their way to a music festival.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Easy to Watch Horror Comedy

Story: 100 Bloody Acres starts as we meet one of the brothers Reg (Herriman) who is a part of an organic fertiliser business, after Reg picks up a dead body, he finds himself drawn into picking up three hitchhikers, Sophie (McGahan), James (Ackland) and Wes (Kristian) who are heading to a music festival for a binge filled weekend.

Once Reg arrives back to his brother Lindsay (Sampson) the hapless brothers must decide to kill the three to continue to produce the highly popular fertiliser and keep their reputation up or let them go.

Thoughts on 100 Bloody Acres

Characters/Performance – Reg is the simple-minded brother who is always out to impress his brother, he brings the victims back to the factory. Lindsay is the brains of the act and he must clean up the mess Reg has left him in. He will go through with any killing. Sophie is the main reason Reg stops, she is travelling with her boyfriend but been cheating on him with their other friend. James just believes he is going to have the life he planned with Sophie. Wes is the traveller who enjoys a drug or two finding himself high through the whole film.

Performance wise, Damon and Angus are both good as the brother showing good chemistry as they do come off very different. Anna, Oliver and Jamie are all fine in the victim roles without coming off as interesting characters.

Story – The story has moments that feel fresh in places but in the main it is all just another version of group of travellers get taken by isolated people who must fight to survive or become the latest victims. It has good moments but doesn’t end up being the most memorable story in the genre.

Comedy/Horror – The comedy is good in places and does add to all the events of the film as it is almost what could go wrong does go wrong. The horror works in places too as we get the gore from it.

Settings – The Australian outback always makes for a good setting as we know how isolated the places are when it comes to the horror.

Special Effects – The effects work when needed without being used too often, the highlights come from the wild trip Wes is going through.

Final Thoughts – You want to see an Australian version of Tucker & Dale versus Evil, then this is for you but it doesn’t quite live up to the levels of that one.

Overall: Enjoyable horror comedy.

Rating

Oct 18 2017

Videodrome (1983)

Director: David Cronenberg

Writer: David Cronenberg (Screenplay)

Starring: James Woods, Sonja Smits, Debbie Harry, Peter Dvorsky, Leslie Carlson, Jack Creley

Plot: A sleazy cable-TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a very unusual fashion when he acquires a new kind of programming for his station.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Classic Game Changing Movie

Story: Videodrome starts as we get to see cable TV President Max Renn (Woods) as he is looking for the next show for his network which will continue to push the boundaries for his audience. When Max learns from one of his technicians Harlan (Dvorsky) about an extreme torture show known as Videodrome.

Becoming obsessed with Videodrome he shows his new flame, radio presenter Nicki Brand (Harry) who wants to become a contestant on the show but just what is the marketing for this show, is it real or is it well staged?

Diving into the truth of Videodrome we see how Max starts to question his own reality when he starts hallucinating which leads him to find the truth through Bianca O’Blivion (Smits) in what is one of the most shocking outcomes you could imagine.

Thoughts on Videodrome

Characters/Performance – Max Renn is the typical president of a television network, he is always looking for the next show which could give his network the spike they require. He quickly becomes obsessed with learning the truth about Videodrome only to be sucked into the world it has created. Bianca is one of the potential people behind Videodrome while Nicki is a love interest that wants to be on Videodrome.

Performance wise, James Woods was brilliant in this leading role easily become the star of the show with the rest of the cast all doing good jobs throughout.

Story – The story is one that is well before its time, when you look back now and see how people wanted to find the next level of television shows like we do now this offers up a look at just how far things could go. This story does have plenty of mystery about where everything could end up going and does have moments that make you react as simple as what the hell is going on but they are all worth it when it comes to the final outcome.

Horror/Sci-Fi – The horror in this film is filled around the gore effects going on and Max questioning just what is going on. The sci-fi world created shows us an extreme level of where television shows could go.

Settings – The settings are not the most impactful but do all work for where the story goes.

Special Effects – This is a practical effects exhibition showing us just what you can do if you know how to use them.

Final Thoughts – This will always be a true classic on how to push the special effects limits, we get pushed as far as we can with them that are truly amazing for the time.

Overall: The violent classic we all know off.

Rating

Oct 18 2017

Fantasy Film Casting – Train to Busan – American

Let’s Recast a Film

You know how us film fans always want to recast a film, well today we play the role of producer and this script has turned up on our desk. The next job is to cast the film as if it the year is 2017, the rules are as simple you can’t use anyone who is in the original film however good or bad you think the film is. So without further ado let’s cast this movie.

Film: Train to Busan (American Version)

Original Cast: Yoo Gong, Yu-mi Jung, Dong-seok Ma, Eui-Sung Kim, Gwi-hwa Choi

New Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Evangeline Lilly, Joel Edgerton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Josh Stewart

Why I have picked this star: I have only picked these five characters because picking a child actor usually is best to get an unknown and these five adult characters are all the most important to the outcome of the film. I have also decided to avoid anyone actors who have appeared in zombie fighting movies or TV shows or true A-listers for this one and it goes without saying the names will be changed.

Seok-woo – Yoo Gong – Daniel Kaluuya

Seok-woo is a businessman that forgets his daughter’s birthday and to make up for it must escort his daughter to her mother’s house in Busan. We see he is distant from his child but through the film we see the reluctant fighter come out on him in the battle to survive. I have gone with Daniel Kaluuya here because we need a character that isn’t built to fight and after seeing Get Out this year we get to see a working man entered a horror position where he needs to fight back.

Seong-kyeong – Yu-mi Jung – Evangeline Lilly

Seong-kyeong is the pregnant wife of Sang-hwa, she becomes the carer for the little girl when the men go off to fight and she is the reason why Sang-hwa is so determined to make it out of the train with their child. Evangeline is a strong actress and hasn’t been afraid to become a supporting character in many different genres.

Sang-hwa – Dong-seok Ma – Joel Edgerton

Sang-hwa is the father-to-be that will pick up any weapon to stop the zombies taking over the train and killing his family. He quickly becomes the favourite character in this film, he does have a stocky build but it shows it is mostly muscle when being shown off in combat. Joel Edgerton is my pick here, we know he can handle combat after Warrior without looking he most muscular and after It Comes at Night we saw him in a desperate to survive situation.

Yon-suk – Eui-sung Kim – Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Yon-suk is the cowardly businessman who manages to get others to work with him to stop our group of survivors reaching certain points in the train, he will also sacrifice anybody, any age to save himself from the zombies. This character is important because he shows the difference between a man who believes has it all compared to the Homeless man’s actions of a man who doesn’t have anything. Nikolaj is most known for being Jamie Lannister in Game of Thrones where he has done twisted things to a mix of victims showing he can pull of the heartless villain looking to keep himself on top.

Homeless Man – Gwi-hwa Choi – Josh Stewart

Homeless Man is joins the train last minute, but he always turns up when one of our characters needs help before showing his moment of heroics to save our young child in danger. Josh Stewart has built up a reputation in horror in recent years and picking him for this small role but also important role would continue to show his range in the horror genre.

How will this change the film: The only changes you would be adding into this film is the location to where the train is heading too, maybe out of New York to the West Coast hoping it starts on one side, the only other change is the names would need to become an English based for the audience to connect with.

Will you be going to see this new version of the film?
Who would you rather see in this film?

Disclaimer – This is just for fun with the idea being the film is being released in this year, we are not suggesting a full remake to the idea of the film having a different release date or country.