The Skin I Live In Review

The Skin I Live In - Blu Ray/DVD Combo Available Here

Pedro Almodovar put together one of the most compelling and horrific movies I’ve ever seen. I forget to talk about it, so today, we’re going to take a look back at the 2011 movie “The Skin I Live In”, as it is one of the most horror filled, psychological thrillers I’ve ever seen. It’s a very fascinating movie that moves towards horror as the story reveals. It’s perhaps the finest Spanish movie I’ve seen in a long time, and if you haven’t seen it, oh boy, you’re in for a serious trip.

The movie is simple enough. A plastic surgeon has been working towards helping create a resource for individuals that have skin disorders. He works on mice, and there’s been great results. He talks about how he has been working with live individuals, and upon doing so, he is fired. The doctor now without help is told to stop experimenting immediately, etc.

Shock AKA Beyond The Door 2 Review

Mario Bava is one of my favorite directors of horror. He has a very distinct style and visual elements that you do not see from many other modern directors. The use of camera angles, lighting, and atmosphere plays well to set up the finales of his movies, and that’s exactly what you get with the movie “Shock”. This is also known as “Beyond The Door 2”, and in the United States it is readily available through a variety of different arenas. This was released in 1977, and it was the last movie that Mario Bava directed before he died. That being said, it doesn’t feel like his last picture, but it’s definitely one creepy movie none the less.

In this movie, you are given a slow burn. There’s a kid that is a bit creepy, and a couple that are moving into a house. The wife has come back from a sanitarium, where she was locked up for 7 years after her husband commits suicide. As the story progresses, the kid starts getting the “Shining”, oh wait, wrong movie. But it’s similar, and things start to move around the house ala “Paranormal Activity”. As the movie progresses, Bava’s signature creep style comes full circle and you realize that perhaps the wife had more to do with her husband’s death than we are lead to believe. As the movie gets into a climax, things get really bloody, messy, and revealing.

Take equal parts from many horror epics, including “The Omen” and you have a movie that leads you down a line of a slow burning wick. It’s slow, but it pays off dividends at the end. In fact, “Shock” delivers one of the best endings in horror that I’ve seen in a long time. Everything builds to a high tension, a suspenseful push, that you start rooting for the wrong person. Right when you think you have this movie figured out, and you call for a zombie to show up, nope, much like Argento’s classics, things unravel and create finality.

The best thing that you are going to see here is the visual style. Daria Nicolodi plays a very disturbed mother, and Bava’s elemental, visceral sequences play so well with her emotional collapse that you really feel for her at one point. However, as the kid starts to showcase the true demise of his father, you start to realize that the villain is not whom you think, and that of course leads to a very climactic ending.

If you aren’t a big fan of Italian Horror, then you are not going to like this one. However, if you’re a fan of Bava already, then you know what to expect here, and will definitely love the slow burn feel of the movie. It’s not extreme, but it certainly lends itself well to a lot of other extreme movies. I love the way things turn out in this thrilling horror movie. Take it for a ride and see why Bava is celebrated as one of the pioneers of horror cinema. Buy “Shock” here, and see what this is all about.



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Death Race 3 Inferno Review

I ate the worst burrito in the world today, and then fell asleep. When I woke up, I had a headache and one thing on my mind, Death Race 3. This movie is the third of the sequels that came through with the remake featuring Jason Statham, only this is straight to video and stars Danny Trejo, and Luke Goss. This time around the formula is similar, but has been thrown into a washing machine, because you’re going to find it to either be very boring, or quite fascinating towards the end. I found it tedious to start, but then things really took a turn for the better, and this started to make a lot more sense.

The movie centers on Luke and his pit crew getting sent to South Africa to start racing for a new prison warden. The warden is taking things international, and he’s throwing out the old policy of freedom after winning 5 times. Frankenstein is on the verge of winning big, but now he’s stuck trying to fight back and he’s not going to get any leverage. Meanwhile, he reveals to his crew that the person under the mask is none other than Carl Lucas aka Luke. The gang hates him, but oh well, he then reveals the real reason they are there.

As you expected, there is some racing here. However, the Ford Mustang is gone. Goodbye mustang and hello some dune boogie piece of crap. The rest of the cars are all retrofitted for the sands and dunes of this desert prison area. I don’t like it, but then again, it works for what it is. As the movie progresses, the teams race and things go in order as you would expect. There are minor details here and there that makes this more of a combat movie, then things explode into a frenzy towards the end of the film.

In the third act you start to realize that Frankenstein is not going to win, he has other plans. With a stroke of genius, or perhaps luck, this whole things blows up in the favor of Frankenstein when he and his crew escape the prison with the help of an insider and a new guy changes places with him. This is very much like the first movie, and it goes in line with the notion that the monster can be replaced by any idiot. As you start to wonder why this is all going down the way it is, you’re given the full reveal. The movie bounces back to where Lucas was giving away his “truth” and you realize this was the plan all along.

Death Race 3 Inferno is not a great movie. However, if you’ve invested in the first two, you might as well finish this one. I found it to be slow at first, but there’s enough action and a good fourth act to really get into it. I actually didn’t hate it that much, and that’s saying a lot. Tanit Phoenix is hot, and waiting for a nip slip is about as crazy as you’re going to get here. I liked the grindhouse style, and I do appreciate the continuity, but overall, this is not as good as the first, and that’s not exactly “Citizen Kane” or anything. Overall, if you’re going to get this, get it as part of the Death Race Trilogy or don’t watch it. Then again, buy something, I need the money, and you need to add another dvd to your collection, so how about it?

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Ginger Snaps Review

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Ginger Snaps is a movie that I saw while working as a video store clerk in Culver City. It was my favorite job, and the movie was part of the late night movies I would play before closing up shop. It came out in 2001 and spawned a few sequels. The movie centers on werewolves in a whole new way. It takes the notion of going into womanhood and flips the tables, pushing new life into a tired genre that is still hard to do today.

The plot follows a couple of sisters that aren’t exactly in the popular crowd. As one turns into a woman through her menstrual cycle, a beast comes out of the blue to attack. She then begins to change slowly, turning into a monster, and while at first she thinks the urges are sexually based, they are for much worse, complete and utter chaos and rampaging beastly things.

There is a good sense of gore in this movie, but it is obvious that there wasn’t a huge budget. You don’t get the transformation scenes that the 1980s had, and you don’t get that compelling narrative that was in “Silver Bullet” and “Howling” but you still get a good werewolf flick. There’s nothing cute about the movie when it gets going, even though you sympathize with the characters at first glance. It’s when Ginger turns into fully beast mode that you start to really get a feel for the characterizations and in some way punch the validation card on the movie.

Ginger Snaps is a solid entry into a genre that has been done to death. It is not my favorite in this genre, but it’s a powerful movie with a lot of deep seeded meaning if you so choose to explore. Forget the 1980s, this is an updated version of the wolf lore that is definitely better than some of the mainstream releases that were put out before and after. I like it, you may like it, and it’s well worth the few bucks to get it. Ginger Snaps is a solid horror flick, and Katherine Isabelle as well as Danielle Hampton play their roles to perfection.

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