Half Nelson

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Succubus: Hell Bent

A blissfully crappy horror movie, but not really a horror movie...more like a campy, goofy B-movie meant more for laughs than anything else. I can't say I was even disappointed in this, because the title alone indicates how low-brow it will ultimately be. I sat through it non-stop, chuckling at its crappiness and wondering how much these actors actually got paid to make it, and how far the careers of guys like Lorenzo Lamas and Gary Busey have fallen to force them to be in it (damn, I miss 'Renegade'). Busey is the 'star' of the film, despite the fact that he appears for all of 5 minutes towards the end. 

Can't complain about it...wouldn't rent it, but if it came on TV on a Sunday afternoon or whatever, you may want to just allow yourself to watch it....if you had nothing better to do!

The Blair Witch Project

Almost forgot I had re-watched this film. This is big for me, because there are very few movies that I will watch more than once. The Blair Witch Project, however, holds some nostalgia for me, and is one film that I really believe was groundbreaking on a few levels.

I first saw it right when it came out, in the summer of 1999. I was back in the country for a brief vacation, so I had missed nearly all the hype surrounding the film's release. I was in Maine visiting relatives, and my cousin suggested we go see it. I agreed, and since she was 14 at the time, we did the old switcharoo to sneak her into an R-rated flick (they were actually checking ticket stubs. which was weird).

Knowing absolutely nothing about the film, I was pretty impressed. I may have actually believed it was a real 'documentary' up until a certain point in the movie. Overall, I thought handheld camera style and erratic editing was very effective (this was before all the reality shows and whatnot, so it was quite original at the time...) and scary as hell. Using the unknown to evoke fear was brilliant, and really packed a punch.

Psychologically, I was freaked out. My family lived in a remote house out in the woods, and coming home after seeing that flick, I had a hell of a time falling asleep! I was so taken with the movie, that when I got back down to Caracas, I raved about it to all my friends down there. It came to theaters in Venezuela a few months later, and I dragged everyone to see it, insisting they would be blown away. To my chagrin, most of my friends thought it sucked and were unimpressed. In hindsight, I think all the hype and buildup about the movie prepared people for the final product. I first saw it with no preconceived notions, had no idea what it was about or what the plot entailed. Perhaps if I had waited like my friends did, then maybe I would have had the same reaction. 

Anyway, seeing it again was a nice trip back in time. My wife actually watched the last half with me, and she hates scary films. The freaky parts were still freaky, and I think she may have actually liked it. You have to give credit to a modern horror flick that has no monster, no blood or gore, no contrived 'scary' situations like being chased by a ghost through a cellar or something...just the filmmakers fucking with your head.

Stay Alive

Another 'horror' movie that evokes zero horror, except perhaps the horror that someone actually bothered to make it or the horror that I wasted 1 hour 40 minutes watching it.

Set in New Orleans, the plot revolves around a sinister video game where if your character dies, you will die in exactly the same way. I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time this convention has been utilized (see Emilio Estevez part of this movie). In any case, the film is highly ineffective. I suppose one could give credit for using a fairly non-conventional setting,( i.e. New Orleans instead of random big city suburbs), as well as blending in some gothic, voodoo, creole themes, however at the end of the day, the movie does nothing to impact my actions in daily life. If it were effective, I would ostensibly want to stop playing video games for awhile, just like I stopped camping in the woods for a loooong time after I first saw this. Instead, I am once again angered at having been duped into watching something just because it was on Showtime HD. Damn LCD television has really clouded my judgment...

War

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Yakuza vs. Triad gang war in San Francisco, lots of predictable plot twists and not nearly as much fighting as you would think for a Jet Li film. Lame, kind of reminded me of a low-budget 80's action flick, but with bigger explosions and fancier cars.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

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The Year of the Yao

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