Austin is a seasoned technology and multimedia professional in Overland Park, KS (a suburb of the Kansas City area), but his passion is film.
He has a Twitter profile where I frequently talk movies, and a Letterboxd account where he logs, reviews, and discusses films in greater depth.
twitter.com/VforVashaw
letterboxd.com/vforvashaw
----He has a Twitter profile where I frequently talk movies, and a Letterboxd account where he logs, reviews, and discusses films in greater depth.
twitter.com/VforVashaw
letterboxd.com/vforvashaw
RINGU [RING] (1998)
This may seem a weird one to start with - after all, RINGU enjoys highly favorable critical and commercial acclaim. But the legacy of RINGU is precisely what makes it so easy to overlook. In the West, it stands in the shadow cast by Gore Verbinski's competent but lesser remake, THE RING. In the East, it contends not only with a handful of inferior sequels, but also countless copycat films featuring ghoulish long-haired girls and haunted gadgets. With so many derivatives, we've perhaps collectively forgotten what made the original so special: it's a highly unnerving film with disturbing imagery, great performances (including a breakout role for Hiroyuki Sanada, who has since become one of Japan's most exciting international stars), and the absolutely ingenious trick of turning your TV an object of utter terror that lingers after the film is done - especially in those bygone days when tube TVs glowed menacingly for several minutes after being turned off.
THE FUNHOUSE (1981)
Every horror fan knows Tobe Hooper, the director of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, SALEM'S LOT, and POLTERGEIST. Lately another of his films, LIFEFORCE, has also been experiencing something of a popular revival. But what horror fans may not know is that Hooper boasts a pretty sizable filmography of horror flicks besides his big hits. THE FUNHOUSE is one of these, a creepy chiller that revels in the frightening nature of clowns, carnies, and circus freaks. For four teens, a promiscuous night spent hiding in a circus funhouse takes a deadly turn when they witness some bizarre things they weren't meant to see. Bad for them, good for the audience.
LA CHIESA [THE CHURCH] (1989)
Originally conceived
as DEMONS 3, Michele Soavi's THE CHURCH is a weird and memorable Italian
shocker. It takes place in an old Gothic cathedral which is built over a
cursed Medieval burial ground. Flashing forward to modern times,
demonic forces manage to take root in the church's basement and then
begin to attack the people in the building. The church is elaborately
designed with hidden machinery to seal itself off if the entombed evil
should ever escape, and the scene in which it does so is a mesmerizing
and technically impressive whirlwind of wooden gears and old-world
mechanisms that transform the building into an eerie fortress. Once that
happens, it's up to a priest and young girl to survive and fight the
increasingly powerful demonic influence.
LITTLE NEMO: ADVENTURES IN SLUMBERLAND (1989)
LITTLE NEMO: ADVENTURES IN SLUMBERLAND (1989)
Another
unexpected entry for a list like this, but right now I'm not thinking
about you. I'm thinking about your kids. LITTLE NEMO is a glorious anime
film based on the beloved classic Winsor McCay comics. It's highly
imaginative and beautifully animated, but it's also pretty freakin'
scary at times. The flipside to the whole "dream world" motif is that
there's also a world of nightmares. In one harrowing dream sequence we
see Nemo call out to his mother to warn her of impending danger -- but
she's facing the other way and is deaf to his cries, and won't turn her
head. This is eerily accurate as the sort of nightmare that kids really
have.
CITADEL (2012)
As many film folks are aware, there's been
an odd international subgenre of films brewing in the last few years
that feature urban "tower block" settings: District 13, La Horde, Attack
The Block, The Raid, Dredd, Tower Block, The Tower, etc. For many, this
Irish chiller may be one that slipped through the cracks.
The story concerns a young man who is crippled by extreme agoraphobia after witnessing the murder of his pregnant wife by some juvenile thugs. His baby survives but in his paranoid state he is hardly able to properly function or take care of the child. Though he has moved away from the tower block where the incident took place, he senses that something sinister is happening there. The film works because the paranoia is steeped in gritty reality before introducing more bizarre elements. The unique setting (three massive decaying tower blocks looming over a vast wasteland spotted with a few empty rundown neighborhoods) is notable for its extreme isolation.
One truly unique aspect that may help viewers appreciate the film is that the protagonist's plight was patterned after director Ciaran Foy's own struggle with agoraphobia after a terrifying experience being attacked by a gang of youths.
The titular Devil's Rain itself is cursed rainfall which fricking MELTS PEOPLE'S FACES OFF in a stew of bubbly goop: gruesomely, nightmarishly, and even more creepy for its rough-edged 70's cinematography. But don't take my word for it; check out the gloriously nutso trailer and remember that in that era this was the sort of movie that could get a PG rating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvKB0VUnRu8
One
impact that the passing of years has had on THE DEVIL'S RAIN is that
the film really is whatever you want it to be. Looking for a
legitimately chilling horror classic? Right here. Prefer to take it in
as a Shatner novelty with Ernest Borgnine chewing the scenery as Satan?
That works too. Even the gruesome violence can either be taken at face
value or dismissed as special effects. Simply put, this is a superb
movie that just about any cinephile could have a great time with.
The story concerns a young man who is crippled by extreme agoraphobia after witnessing the murder of his pregnant wife by some juvenile thugs. His baby survives but in his paranoid state he is hardly able to properly function or take care of the child. Though he has moved away from the tower block where the incident took place, he senses that something sinister is happening there. The film works because the paranoia is steeped in gritty reality before introducing more bizarre elements. The unique setting (three massive decaying tower blocks looming over a vast wasteland spotted with a few empty rundown neighborhoods) is notable for its extreme isolation.
One truly unique aspect that may help viewers appreciate the film is that the protagonist's plight was patterned after director Ciaran Foy's own struggle with agoraphobia after a terrifying experience being attacked by a gang of youths.
THE DEVIL'S RAIN is in my
estimation the single the most undeservedly forgotten horror gem out
there. It should at the very least be a popular cult classic, but
instead it seems to languish in obscurity. The story deals with a
Satanic cult in a desecrated church in an abandoned ghost town. Add to
that a supremely interesting cast: William Shatner and Tom Skerritt
share the lead with a devilish Ernest Borgnine, Ida Lupino appears in
one of her final roles, and then-unknown John Travolta pops up as a
blink-and-you'll miss-him baddie.
The titular Devil's Rain itself is cursed rainfall which fricking MELTS PEOPLE'S FACES OFF in a stew of bubbly goop: gruesomely, nightmarishly, and even more creepy for its rough-edged 70's cinematography. But don't take my word for it; check out the gloriously nutso trailer and remember that in that era this was the sort of movie that could get a PG rating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvKB0VUnRu8

1 comment:
When I wrote this I neglected to include the fabulous zombie blaxploitation flick SUGAR HILL. Definitely one worth seeking out!
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