Getting Lost in The Fields

I absolutely love when a film's premise has hooks, enticing the watchers and bringing us deeper into the world as it's unspooling. Everything I'd read on The Fields had me very much looking forward to checking it out. It's a period piece (cool!), set in rural Pennsylvania (hey, that's where I'm from!) during the summer of '73. It purports to be based on true events in the aftermath of the Manson family murders. Eight year old Steven is sent to stay on a farm with his ornery, foul mouthed grandmother and her long suffering husband whilst his parents try to work through marrital issues (adultery and gun brandishing, ya know normal husband-wife stuff). We're told that Grandmom's penchant for watching late night horror movies (sweet!) is influencing Steven's world view and causing him to seek out the darkness hidden among the surrounding corn fields.

And so, armed with what seems like a bomb proof premise, The Fields then proceeds to stumble and fall right out of the gate. It's not just a pacing problem but more that plot threads seem to build to nothing. This goes doubly for suspense; there simply is very little unless you're terrified of corn. There's some promise of horrors to come when Steven stumbles across an abandoned amusement park (apparently the oldest in America - Bushkill Amusement Park) inhabited by squatting hippies. But the horror never arrives, this plot thread is quickly abandoned too. There's some nonsense about inbred cousins who kill chickens, aunts who are so rural that you can't even tell what they're mumbling and some out of place race relations exposition, all of which just seem to add an ackward flair that had me cringing.

Still, films can get a lot of mileage on charismatic characters. Unfortunately, the most likable character, Charlie, is hardly in the film at all. Joshua Ormond, who plays Steven, puts in an admirable performance and could have a bright career in his future but he's playing a young boy and so to shoulder him with carrying the film without a likable supporting cast is folly. Tara Ried, who is given top billing here, book ends the film appearing in the beginning and ending only.

Not all was disappointment and sad panda faces though- the cinematography was excellent, expertly canvassing ominous sky-scapes and rickety farm structures. It really set the table for what could have been a slow burning, tension filled horror flick. Sadly there was no meal forthcoming. The Fields ends up being a lesson in unfulfilled promise. At least the trailer is kind of spine-tingly.

 

 

Pontypool: Challenging Your Expectations

In the middle to late 90's, if you told me that we'd have a massive cultural zombie renaissance and accompanying weary-some glut, I'd have told you to fuck off and to go hide in the basement with the mouthy white guy, his abused wife and their soon to be reanimated, garden tool loving daughter. Nevertheless here we are and you've never had more choice chomps for your undead delights. Unfortunately for every new, interesting take on rotters, there's a dozen others that are just looking to cash in on the craze. Hopefully you didn't skip Pontypool.

The title, perhaps it's weakest point, is the reason that I almost passed it over. It's entirely unassuming, just like the film, and so it makes sense in the rear view but does a disservice as an initial hook. The title of the film comes from the name of the Canadian town in which it takes place. It's a small community afflicted by the bitter Ontario winters. We're following recent fired radio shock jock Grant Mazzie, who's on his way to the only gig he could get- morning news man on small town Pontypool's only station. Mazzie is brilliantly played by Stephen McHattie, whom I absolutely loved as Hollis Mason in Watchmen; especially in his last stand scene in the Extended version (arguably on of the best moments of the whole film). Grant is smooth and charismatic, which is absolutely essential in a character driven film with a single set.

That's right, outside of the opening sequence the entire film takes place in the radio studio populated by only three characters- Grant, his producer Sydney and Laural-Ann the tech. Because they are the main source of news for a small town and because they're precisely positioned to intersect the incoming information, we're introduced to the madness of an outbreak in such a unique way: without eyes or even first hand account.  It's tension times ten as all accounts of the hysteria are unconfirmable, with discomfort building on top of itself as call ins end in grotesque screams and with confusing mental hooks. The source of the outbreak might be the most unique ever attempted...but I'll stop right there.

I can't delve further into why Pontypool is such a unique entry into my favorite genre without completely spoiling what makes it so effective for you. This is a flick which zombie fans absolutely cannot afford to pass up, even if you've grown fatigued of the en vogue sugenre. It's so refreshing that it might even wipe some of that fatigue away. The atmosphere sucks you in and the story hooks dig themselves in deeper than an Alabama tick. I'd be fascinated to hear what other zombie fans think of this work. Drop me a line after you see it. It's currently available on Netflix Instant watch.

Teenage Manners are Atrocious

Last night, I learned a good number of things about the creature society has come to call "teenagers". For instance, did you know that all teenagers feel the irresistible compulsion to film absolutely every single moment of their, usually boring, lives? I thought this was a tendency rampant only among Americans, but I came across evidence to contradict that. Yes, if the film Atrocious is to be believed, adolescents in Spain have nothing better to do than film their hum-drum daily goings on using what appear to be expensive digital video cameras too. Who gives expensive cameras to kids anyway?

Yes, friends, we've come across some found footage, left among the bodies of an entire murdered family. So, that's fun. The authorities find and review 37 hours of footage, taken by brother an sister duo Cristian and July over five days of vacation at an old family estate. That's right, 37 hours filmed in just five days. With all that filming, how are they going to find time to drink and smoke pot? I mean honestly, it's as if they don't want to be graphically killed by a machete wielding killer.

Luckily for us, the police were kind enough to cut all this footage into Atrocious, an 80 minute horror film. While it was awesome of them to do that for us, it would have been nice if they had left out some of the more boring teenage antics from the early film. The first half hour of the film drags because viewers, on the whole, don't want to watch teenagers pack the car and go on a road trip, argue with their siblings, talk back to their parents, complete chores and generally dick around. I've got YouTube at my finger tips if I wanted that.

The real meat of the film takes place in the adjacent hedge labyrinth. It is a very interesting local, which is good because the bulk of our footage is shot there. There is a local legend of a woman in a red dress who helps lost travelers in the maze after nightfall, but c'mon folks, this is very much the wrong genre for kindly spirits. This time spent in the overgrown labyrinth is fairly divisive, as the first person camera work includes lots of running and turning in circles to look at hedges and paths that all look the same. If found footage movies make you nauseas, this one's got to be the carnival ride puke-a-thon of them. If that doesn't bother you, though, it's a great tension builder as you, along with the characters, are completely lost in the hedge maze.

The climactic 10 minutes are frenetic and the conclusion is really satisfying. In this respect, the pay off makes Arocious' premise work and is genuinely scary. If you're a huge found footage fan, this is a better than average entry in the genre with a great ending and is worth checking out. Atrocious is receiving a domestic DVD release on October 25th, just in time for your Halloween viewing pleasure.

Yellowbrickroad, a Rare Specimen

People watch horror films for a myriad of reasons. For most folks', the desire to be scared and discover the depths of their fear is that goal. I remember that feeling from when I was little, but as I grew up and into more of a genre fan, the fear faded to a background element, something rarely taken out of the closet and tried on. It's actually kind of humorous that most horror films today are actually just exploitation films with a budget. Here, though, comes something fresh made on a meager budget of half a million dollars that manages to bring suspense and fear in spades.

Yellowbrickroad is the curious story surrounding the small New Hampshire town of Friar. The opening sequence tells the tragic tale of this town, which in 1940 saw all of it's residents follow a hiking trail into the wilderness, through a series of period photographs. It's very evocative of Ken Burns' documentary style. More importantly, it brings the creepy right from the outset; it's unsettling.We're told about an army recon team that was sent in to find the townsfolk, discovering that many had frozen to death but still more of them were murdered brutally. This information and the location of the hiking trail are classified for decades, causing the stories to become myth to become legend. It's declassified in present day, in time for our group of stalwart protagonists to attempt to write book on the subject and dare to venture the same route into the wilderness. I have to admit that beyond the initial setup sequence, the first twenty minutes of the film were a bit slow, as we're introduced to each member of the group.

Let's be fair though, you aren't watching this film to become tenderly attached to a cast of characters. Solely based on the type of movie this is, you have to know, somewhere in the deepest recesses of the lizard part of your brain, that bad things are very likely to happen. Before long, the musical siren call begins it's slow assault on the party's sanity. And my sanity as well. I found myself being bothered by it almost a day later when I tried to go to sleep and that's just downright creepy.

That's the trick here, Yellowbrickroad gets under your skin achingly slowly. The build up is the meat of the film. In this way, it recalls The Shining, very specifically. It isn't as technically sound as Kubrick's take on King's story, but the effect is the same. The tension is there underlying every scene in the film from the halfway point through to the end. Unrelenting, the film doesn't show it all off like the gaudy horror of today, but rather forces the viewer to fill in the blanks. I don't know about you, but being weaned on the tit of 80's horror, my mind fills the blank in pretty graphically. If you're looking for an old school horror fix set to the tempo of today, check out Yellowbrickroad. It releases today on DVD via Bloody Disgusting's Selects label.

Rammbock: A Fresh Take on a Rotting Subgenre

Here at the Midnight Cheese, few things tug at our heartstrings quite the way that zombie films do. Actually it's more a vice-gripped, grasping tear at our heartstrings, followed by some breathless moans of delight and a hearty chomp down of dead teeth. So when we were given the chance to take an early look at the new DVD release of Rammbock: Berlin Undead, we pulled our shotguns off the mantle to repel those shambling monstrosities with good old American firepower!

From Midnight Cheese

Hold on a minute there John Wayne, this is not that sort of zombie movie. And you know what? That's exactly why it’s successful. Rammbock centers around the misadventures of broken hearted Michael, who hitches a ride into Berlin to try and win back his exgirlfriend Gabi, under the guise of returning her keys (Smooth). This is where our ride kicks off, as we waste almost no time immersing ourselves in the undead masses. Michael links up with Harper, a youthful handyman's apprentice, and the two manage to secure Gabi's apartment for the time being.

"But what about Gabi?" I know, shouldn't she be there? Turns out she just stepped out minutes before Michael arrived and could be anywhere. To make matters worse, our hero dropped his cell phone in the mad struggle to shore up their barricade in the first place. It's a very compelling hook, one which sinks in thanks largely to the performance of Michael Fuith. As our hero, he's very vulnerable but he's also very likable and determined. He and Harper, played by Theo Trebs, play off of each other very well and clearly have good on screen chemistry; which is absolutely essential in the narrow confines of Gabi's Berlin apartment complex.

The location scouts deserve a cookie here. The narrow apartment complex really pushes the claustrophobia up several notches, very much like the Spanish film [REC] (which I also highly recommend). Interestingly, the survivors can interact with each other via windows overlooking a small courtyard shared by the apartments-turned prison cells. But they can’t help one another, however much they might wish to.

From Midnight Cheese

Where Rammbock really sets itself apart, though, is with its clever spin on the zombie infection concept. Of the hundreds of films to come out during the last decade’s zombie boom, the vast majority of them are completely content to imitate exactly what has come before with very little variation. Perhaps they try to ratchet up the gore quotient or make the zombies run faster (or make them strippers, yikes), but all in all it’s fast become a stale, rotting subgenre. The zombies in Rammbock aren’t trying to tear you limb from limb or eat you. They’re rabid humans. They’re attacking to maim and they’re trying to bite survivors. The bite imparts an infection; pretty standard fare so far, right?

Ok check this out: the infection doesn’t turn you into a zombie unless your body produces adrenaline which moves the infection to your brain and causes an irreversible transformation. This sets up some pretty interesting scenarios. How do you keep yourself from triggering your fight or flight during the height of a zombie apocalypse? The film showcases several fascinating attempts to survive a bite infection, which is all the more important since the body can fight it off given enough time. However once you have to fight for your life or even just get over excited, it’s permanent zombification time. I won’t spoil the most effective technique for combating the undead, but it’s not guns. In fact, there aren’t any fire arms or head smashing in Rammbock. There is a lot of smart thinking going on and a handful on ingenuity.

At sixty-three minutes in length, Rammbock does not disappoint, packing more of a ride than most of its contemporaries do in ninety minutes. The new DVD release includes the standard behind the scenes feature we’ve come to expect and then delights with a very funny zombification public service announcement bonus. The newly minted DVD was released this week. Check out Rammbock: Berlin Undead, the most original take on the zombie concept since 28 Days Later.

From Midnight Cheese