Entertainment Maven

Written and Directed by Christopher Harrison

Back in 2007 Director Harrison along with his cast and crew set out to make an indie film that played as a horror homage to the films he grew up watching in the 1980’s. After filming was completed the film’s rough cut was turned into a feature that was edited, marketed and released under the name Left for Dead. After a five year wait while other projects took precedence and the film was shelved for a bit, Harrison has finally delivered his final version of the film, Devil’s Night. Devil’s night made its Toronto theatrical premiere at the Blood In the Snow Canadian Film Festival this past weekend.

The College students of a nondescript Canadian town throw wild parties full of drugs, sex, and lost inhibitions every year on Devil’s Night. But this time, an uninvited guest comes for a visit. A year prior five Frat boys were involved in a terrible accident and made a horrific decision. Now a year later the boys are being stalked by a machete-wielding maniac, and their friends are slowly disappearing one by one. It’s up to Tommy (Byers), his girlfriend Nancy (Harris) and best friend Clark (Roberts) to stop the killer before he exacts revenge on all of them.

Devil’s Night is a loving homage to the films of the 80’s like Friday the 13^th and Night of the Creeps to name a few. Harrison has written a fun script that is content to stay in this little pocket, with its limitations and inherent plausibility issues intact. But it’s because he does stay in this pocket that director Harrison manages to deliver a fun and satisfying film. Byers is passable as the accident prone and paranoid Tommy, he manages to pull you in enough that you can remain invested in his outcome. Danielle Harris is quite good here and her level of experience shines through in her acting choices. Roberts is sadly not given a lot to do in the obviously doomed best friend role, but he manages to elevate past it enough to deliver a likeable performance. The rest of the cast are mere background players, Boyd playing the way too obvious red herring character of a local serial killer on the loose from the law, but Amell manages some decent time.

The death sequences are hit and miss here, some of the direct homages work fantastically, a particular sequence based on an iconic Friday the 13^th moment involving Roberts and the stunning JaNae Armogan works extremely well. But the opening sequence involving the incident that sets of the actions of the film is less impressive. The ending sequence actually is completely flawed logic as the passage of time is supposed to be a full year, which does not explain a certain character’s appearance. Stylistically the deaths look great and the effects work is sharp. The mask used for our killer, while obviously referencing Halloween’s Michael Myers, is actually really effective as it always appears to have a smirk or grin implying that he is really enjoying his work. And the stringy long hair attached to the mask lends to the aesthetic.

While far from a perfect film, Devil’s Night results in a fun little romp that can be easily digested and retains an inherit re-watchability. Harrison wears his influences all over the screen and we can be very happy for him and ourselves as the audience alike that he has been able to finally bring his vision of Devil’s Night to the screen. Devil’s Night is a recommend.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

Make sure to keep up with what’s going on at Entertainment Maven by liking our Facebook page and having updates delivered right to your Facebook News Feed. It’s the only way to stay on top of all of our articles with the newest blockbusters and all the upcoming films, festivals and film related events in Toronto.

Follow me directly on twitter @moviejunkieto and by liking my Facebook page at Movie Junkie TO

Email me at moviejunkieto@gmail.com

Christopher Harrison’s Devil’s Night Arrives on DVD This Week (dreadcentral.com)
Reel Asian Film Festival 2012: Graceland Review (Kirk Haviland) (entertainmentmaven.com)
The Barrens Blu-Ray Review (Kirk Haviland) (entertainmentmaven.com)
Fright Nights: The Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival Preview (Nadia Sandhu) (entertainmentmaven.com)

Breaking Dawn Part 2 Review (Paolo Kagaoan)

Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen, Mackenzie Foy, Peter Facinelli, Billy Burke, Jackson Rathbone, Maggie Grace and Jamie Campbell Bower

Directed by Bill Condon

Nadia Sue Sandhu and I have endured The Twilight Saga or The Kristen Stewart Lip Quiver Saga in one drunken night. Or no, I’ll admit it, I actually enjoyed the movies for different qualities other than the ones you judge real good movies on. That said, I can’t speak on her behalf. Anyway, since we already watched all of those movies we might as well watch Breaking Dawn Part 2.

Stewart doesn’t necessarily sustain an energy throughout the movie. And she still doesn’t know what to do with her mouth, a part of her face that she lost control of ever since she signed on to starring in this saga. But, and I realize that I might be judging her by lowered standards, she does make for a convincing mother. She also knows how to be campy. Watch that animated face throughout the film. This is especially true when telling Jacob that he stinks, inhabiting the xenophobia that ‘vampires’ – read: white people – have against ‘werewolves’ – read: Natives or people of colour. Although I will say that this movie’s main plot arc of ‘Bella and Edward’s (Pattinson) Daughter Reneesme (Foy) Is Not An Immortal Child World Tour’ takes away a lot of the racism and criticisms of racism against the movie.

To flashback from the previous installments of the saga, the only reason the Cullens are alive is because the Volturi think that Bella has turned into a vampire. Now they think that both vampires have conceived an immortal child although Reneesme is just a half-breed. An immortal child, in the Twilight Saga Universe, is a child by two vampires and thus have powers so uncontrollable that he or she can raze a village with a tantrum. Those children and the coven who conceive them have to be burned by the Volturi for their mistakes, a fate the Cullens want to avoid.

Back to Stewart’s campiness. Waking up as a vampire makes her a capable stand-in for the audience who, just like her, is taking in all the movie’s stimuli like a high person, slithering like Catwoman in the movie’s Northwestern woods. She knows how to do angry, dragging Jacob out of the house and yelling at him for ‘imprinting’ Renesmee and nicknaming her after the Loch Ness Monster. There’s also a scene when she has convinces her father (Burke) that she’s the slouchy human instead while equally convincing us that she’s the well-postured, quick-footed super-vampire that she has become. Her latest infidelity scandal makes us think twice about her former shy tomboyish self, and she’s playing along with this new persona both in life and in the movie. And when she’s not having these glorious moments, the cast have theirs as their characters, some more diluted than others, prepare for an epic battle with the most ridiculous twist ending.

Follow me on Twitter @paolocase

Like Entertainment Maven on Facebook

Monsters and Martians Film Festival 2012

I recently caught up with Monsters & Martians International Science Fiction Film Festival director Nadia Sandhu to discuss the upcoming fest – the first of its kind in Canada – and the state of science fiction as we head into another jam packed holiday season at the box office.

Monsters and Martians runs at the Projection Booth in Toronto from Thursday, December 6th, up to and including Sunday, December 9th. Tickets and more info.

Why Monsters & Martians?

If you are going to launch Canada’s first all science fiction film festival, you need to have a memorable name and this one evolved from a popular Saturday night series we ran at Projection Booth earlier this year. In fact, we hosted an Earth Day Party which featured Gozilla vs the Smog Monster and Turkish Star Wars on May the 4^th Be With You under this banner.

Star Wars Episode VII. How does that make you feel?

I am a Star Wars nut but the recent 3D re-release of the Phantom Menace made me realize that you can love something to distraction but one day love just dies. I feel like Rhett Butler at the end of Gone With the Wind. I’m just so drained.

If I may be so bold, however, I am disappointed that we are finally getting Episode VII now that Luke and Leia need walkers and Han is the in the retirement home. I truly dread the obligatory Luke becomes Ben Kenobi in a sacrifice scene. At this point I’d rather see a reboot of the prequel trilogy. Yes, a reboot. With a real story and real conflict, and a badass Anakin Skywalker and writers who actually have a clue how the story ends. And Ben doesn’t know about there being TWINS dammit.

What do you think about The Hobbit in 48fps?

Dear God. I cannot with another digital vs 35mm debate. What I can tell you is that I fully intend to see this film on opening night for the Man of Steel trailer and the first nine minutes of Star Trek: Into the Darkness. I can’t promise I will stay for the film because try as I might I just can’t seem to make myself care about it. Odd when you consider I met an ex-boyfriend because of my enthusiasm for a just about to be released Return of the King.

As Festival Director, did you get time to make programming suggestions or was that left to Head Programmer Gareth McGorman?

I really wanted to break the mold and showcase a web series rather than host the obligatory shorts showcase, ergo Heroes of the North on Sunday afternoon. Having something of a Super Hero fetish, and having worked with Jason Mewes, I was hot to trot on the first SModcast release “Alter Egos” which pairs really well with our web series for a Super Sunday Afternoon at the movies.

Name a hidden sci fi film gem.

Starman starring Jeff Bridges. Go see it. I dare you not to get teary at the end.

Full disclosure: I am Nadia Sandhu, Festival Director and Co-Founder of Monsters & Martians and owner of Projection Booth Cinemas.

Monsters and Martians runs at the Projection Booth in Toronto from Thursday, December 6th, up to and including Sunday, December 9th. Tickets and more info.

Like Entertainment Maven on Facebook

Blood In The Snow Film Festival 2012: In the House of Flies Review (Kirk Haviland)

Blood In The Snow 2012

In the House of Flies (2012)

Starring: Lindsay Smith, Ryan Kotack, Henry Rollins and Ryan Barrett

Written by Angus McLellan

Directed by Gabriel Carrer

Making its World Premiere as part of the Inaugural Fright Nights: Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival this past weekend at Toronto’s Projection Booth East cinema is the newest film from Canadian director Gabriel Carrer (Kill, If a Tree Falls), In the House of Flies. The micro budget indie makes use of a small cast and minimal settings to create a suspense thriller about abduction, suffering and sacrifice. But will In the House of Flies be the film to catapult Carrer onto the world stage?

Set in June of 1988 In the House of Flies tells the story of young lovers whose lives are inadvertently changed forever when the couple, Heather (Smith) and Steve (Kotack), suddenly find themselves abducted. Alone, isolated, locked in a basement with only a tiny window as contact to the outside world, Heather and Steve find themselves pawns in the twisted machinations of their diabolical hosts. Surrounded by several mysterious pad-locked suitcases, each containing valuable food and supplies, Heather and Steve must fight to keep their sanity and clutch with blistering hands the last shreds of hope if they want to escape from their abductors (Rollins and Barrett).

In the House of Flies uses its limited budget to its advantage in producing a grimy, sleazy and claustrophobic story mainly set in the confines of a completely walled in basement with a locked trap door as it only entrance and exit. The film lies solely on the shoulders of Smith and Kotack as they are in every frame of the film and for 90% of it they are the only ones on screen. Rollins is only heard in voice and Barrett is only seen from the neck down, never close up. The good news is that Smith and Kotack are up to the task. Their performances are solid and they keep you invested throughout. Rollins’ voice is nearly unrecognizable as he serves as tormentor over a phone placed in the cell.

The script uses its surroundings aptly, keeping the action centered in the basement keeps the budget low and production value high. That said this film is not one of action set pieces and momentum. This is a slow methodical devaluing and deconstruction of these characters. This inevitably leaves us with lulls in areas and some stretches of the film do drag. But when these sequences happen, Carrer, McLellan and the cast manage to snap you back into the film with another well placed revelation. In the House of Flies is a film that will need and demand investment from its viewers, and if you are not prepared to give the alert attention required you may be lost along the way.

One of the most pleasant highlights of the film is the excellent score and soundtrack. There is a screamingly obvious influence from last year’s Drive in the way the music is staged and used in the film, and the song choices follow those of Drive in tone and influence. That said Drive had one of the best soundtracks of the last decade so if you are going to use an influence like this, why not the best? The songs used are killer and would make an excellent companion to the Drive soundtrack on any MP3 player. Sadly I believe the filmmakers missed a great opportunity in not making the soundtrack available to the public after the screening, or if it was it wasn’t advertised strongly enough.

Is In the House of Flies the film that we have been waiting for to launch the ‘new wave’ of Canadian Horror and the careers of people like Carrer? Perhaps it will be, but it’s more than likely another stepping stone to get towards that goal. In the House of Flies is more likely to go down as a film that shows a burgeoning talent make giant steps towards the film that will eventually break him to the world. Either way In the House of Flies is a recommend.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

Follow me directly on twitter @moviejunkieto and by liking my Facebook page at Movie Junkie TO

Email me at moviejunkieto@gmail.com

ParaNorman DVD Review (Kirk Haviland)

ParaNorman DVD

Starring the voices of Cody Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman

Written by Chris Butler

Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell

New this week on DVD and Blu-Ray from Alliance Films is the stop motion animated wonder, from the same studio that brought us Henry Selick’s Coraline, which scared up some decent box office this summer, ParaNorman. Directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell bring us the story of a boy with the gift to talk to the deceased and a mission to fulfill. So what does the DVD have in store for us?

Norman Babcock (Smit-McPhee) is an awkward child with an extraordinary gift, he can see and converse with ghosts. Norman regularly converses with his dead grandmother, much to the exasperation of his incredulous father (Garlin), mother (Mann) and his sister Courtney (Kendrick). An outcast at school, Norman is constantly tormented by Alvin (Mintz-Plasse) and his cronies, and is constantly made fun of over his gift. But when the anniversary of a heinous act in his town’s history approaches, Norman’s estranged Uncle Prenderghast (Goodman) tracks him down as Norman must take over his role in order to save the day. But when all hell breaks loose it’s up to Norman, his friend Neil (Albrizzi), Neil’s hulking brother Mitch (Affleck), Courtney and Alvin to save the day and put everything right.

ParaNorman is a film that actually works even better at home. It remains a smart film that doesn’t pander to the audience while never getting scary enough to truly frighten its target audience. The script is smart with the more adult targeted humor playing better on the small screen. The story does borrow from films like the Sixth Sense quite a bit, but the endearingness of Norman and his friends more than compensates for some of the more familiar story beats. The animation style works extremely well and the stop-motion is fantastic. It does not try to be anywhere near photo-realistic thankfully and I found it very reminiscent of the old Rankin/Bass TV specials I grew up on and still watch around Christmas every year. Directors Butler and Fell keep the film tightly paced and on target as it clocks in at a satisfying 93 minutes. The actors performing the voice work all work well here, especially our leads Norman and Neil along with Norman’s perfectly casted parents. Kendrick’s work as Courtney is really solid here as well, as the nuances of her character play better on the small screen.

The DVD is packed with a ton of great features to check out as they really go deep behinds the scenes and into all aspects of the production. We get a feature length commentary track going into all aspects of the filming with Directors Butler and Fell along with some pre-visual animatic sequences used for the filming. At around 40 minutes in total, the multi segmented Behind the Scenes package “Peering through the Veil” is full of informative and fun facts. And if that weren’t enough there are 7 additional featurettes covering other aspects of the film. A great pack for adult and child alike.

Sure to be present under many a Christmas tree this year, if you can hold out that long, ParaNorman is a treat and delight for the entire family. Loaded with special features and featuring a brilliant crisp and clean digital transfer, the DVD really becomes a can’t lose package. Based on this, ParaNorman on DVD is a must buy DVD and will be a fun holiday watch for the whole family.

You can read my original ParaNorman review HERE

Also Noteworthy : Rise of the Guardians Review and Wolf Children Review

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

Follow me directly on twitter @moviejunkieto and by liking my Facebook page at Movie Junkie TO

Email me at moviejunkieto@gmail.com

Related articles