Posts Tagged ‘horror films’

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Don’t Breathe (2016)

October 12, 2016

Starring: Jane Levy, Stephen Lang, Dylan Minnette
Director: Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead [remake])

Bottom Line: Somehow, years after Eminem shared his vivid and sometimes scary tales of life in the slums of Detroit, horror filmmakers had the brilliant idea that these lonely projects are the perfect backdrop for a scary movie. Much like last year’s amazing and unique It Follows, Don’t Breathe once again takes us into the depths of Detroit, where a young girl named Rocky (Jane Levy) and her friends hatch the perfect plan to rob an old, blind war veteran that lives alone in an abandoned neighborhood. This plan is able to come to fruition mostly because Rocky’s friend Alex (Minnette) has a father that works for a security company and they are able to use that connection to gain access to people’s homes. Obviously, things don’t go as planned and the old man is far more capable than they ever could have imagined.

Detroit is such a good city for horror movies. It’s hard to imagine many settings where a film like Don’t Breathe could work, but an abandoned neighborhood in the Motor City, where there is absolutely no human traffic, is the perfect place. And it’s easy to believe this is a man that wants to be secluded. What’s not as believable is that this is a man that would have a security system in the first place. He had a daughter that was killed by a motorist (possibly drunk, I can’t remember) and you get the idea that her death was the end of any connection he had to society. So why does he have this system? I guess living in an abandoned area would raise anyone’s paranoia, but he’s well prepared for intruders and has Cujo for a guard dog. I’m not really buying it and you kind of realize the security system only exists for plot purposes and that it doesn’t really make sense for the character. Of course, pointing out plot holes in scary movies is a silly practice…

…but Don’t Breathe is a good scary movie. Once you can get past some of the silliness (like the team finishing off a joint just before breaking into the house – nothing like a good high when performing an occupied home invasion!) Don’t Breathe is a solid thriller – it’s crazy tense with lots of good scares. And the poor, victimized blind man is even scarier than you can imagine. I’m yet to see the remake of Evil Dead but the team of director Fede Alvarez and Jane Levy as the star are a good match here and that project is now on my must see list.

Don’t Breathe is currently the best horror film of 2016 and one of the best films in the genre of the last several years. It’s a must see for fans of scary films and an all around good time at the movies.

Replay Value: Not as good as It Follows, but definitely worth seeing again.
Oscar Potential: Can’t imagine any.

Grade: 6.5/10 (Recommended/Must See)

SPOILER ALERT: Okay, so the big surprise of the movie is that the blind man has the woman that accidentally killed his daughter locked up in his basement. She was found not guilty of vehicular manslaughter and was able to go free. And now she’s in his basement. Think about this for a second. How difficult would it be for a blind man to not only find out where and when to find this girl, capture her by surprise, and do so while making sure there are no witnesses.

Really?

Sequel Potential: Spoiler alert! Maybe. The blind man lives.

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Jason Vorhees Lives

February 19, 2009

I must note that I grew up on the Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street franchises, starting my fascination with the horror genre as early as five or six years old. I can even remember my dad taking my brother and I to see Jason Goes To Hell when we were 9 and 8 years old, respectively. So Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees were like my Leonardo and Raphael growing up. With that said, I still have a weakness for my old favorites, at a time in my life when all other horror films generally don’t interest me. I’ll be sad the day they stop making films for these horror icons, but weaknesses aside, I’m not interested in seeing these sons of bitches in space or Manhatten.

This remake thankfully takes the series back to its roots: Jason Vorhees, alone, slaughtering a bunch of promiscuous young adults at Camp Crystal Lake. This film is more of a reboot than a remake, however, as it takes concepts from the first three Friday The 13th movies and rolls them into one. We see Pamela Vorhees (Jason’s mother) decapitated before the opening credits are finished and Jason sports a bag over his head for the first 40 minutes or so before finding his trademark goalie’s mask. It was a shrewd business move to pay homage to the story and get to vintage Jason as soon as possible since no one really gives a damn about his mom or a pre-hockey mask Jason.

Friday The 13th gives you pretty much what you expect. We have Jason Vorhees stalking teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake and dispatching each of them systematically, trying to outmatch his last murder via uniqueness, weapon choice, and gruesomeness. Along with the standard mayhem, Friday The 13th doesn’t disappoint in the female nudity department either. It goes without saying that we (males) want to see boobs and death in these flicks and Friday The 13th delivers.

One thing that stood out about this remake is how fast and agile Jason Vorhees is. Jason has always been depicted as a lethargic and stupid monster relying on unexplained ubiquitousness and the stupidity of his victims to get his kills. In the update, Jason is seen sprinting, tossing and aiming objects with pinpoint accuracy, and generally outsmarting his competition. However, he’s still dumb enough to fall for the classic “I’m your mother” bit.

I’m not going to dive into the script or the acting in this film because if you’re watching the 12th installment in the series and expect quality in these departments, you probably walked into the wrong theater. Friday The 13th is yet another solid horror remake from producer Michael Bay and should satisfy fans of the series. I thought it was a notch below the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (also a Bay-produced film), but much better than Rob Zombie’s Halloween. I’m looking forward to more Jason flicks and for the upcoming A Nightmare On Elm Street reboot, another horror remake Bay is involved with. I can’t wait to see who they cast as Freddy Krueger.

Score: 6 out of 10 (Recommended)

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