Entertainment Maven

Wrong Turn 5 Survival Guide (Upcoming Contest)

How to Survive a Horror Movie

Debuting on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy October 23rd

Now that horror fans have the backstory on the hillbilly cannibals’ “Bloody Beginnings”, the franchise rejoins the infamous disfigured brothers as they return when WRONG TURN 5: BLOODLINES debuts on unrated Blu-ray, DVD and, for the first time ever, Digital Copy on October 23. This all-new terrifying film boasts the talent of horror movie veteran Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), along with Game of Thrones’ Roxanne McKee.

So, you’re lost in the woods, you can’t find your friends, and there’s a psychotic killer on the loose? Boy, it sure sucks to be you! Too bad you didn’t have this handy how-to guide to tell you the dos and don’ts of escaping a savage murderer. Follow these four simple tips, and you just might make it to the end of the credits.

Do – Pick Up Stray Weapons

If you’re running through the woods and you happen upon a stray shovel, an axe stuck in a tree, a hefty branch, or any other even mildly useful item, PICK IT UP. If you have to go up against with a deformed villain, shouldn’t you be armed? It seems only fair that you put yourself on even ground with your would-be assassin. On a related note, if you do happen to knock out your assailant, continue attacking them! Isn’t it always the case that our heroes think that their foe is kaput, and then they return for bloody, bloody vengeance? That’s why you should keep attacking them until there is no possible way they’re still alive! And then run. And keep your weapon, just in case.

Do – Use Common Sense

I know you’re frightened, and you should be. But don’t let common sense escape you! A little coherent thought can go a long way when you’re running for your life. For instance, if something looks like a trap, it probably is. If you have a cell phone, or a compass, or a map, use it (quietly, in the case of a cell phone – or, better yet, send a text). If you know that you’re finally somewhere safe, don’t go outside again to look for your friend who has mysteriously disappeared. If your attacker is locked up or contained in some way, leave them there and then run for your life – do not let them persuade you in any way! Basically, try to keep your wits about you, and make good choices.

Don’t – Trust Strangers You Meet, Ever

Chances are this stranger that you think is your only hope for survival is likely not wandering through the woods, the dark and/or deserted town, etc. just for the heck of it. They’re probably also a savage killer, or in cahoots with the original murderous fiend that was in hot pursuit of you, and they most likely will take you to their car, or cabin, and start pulling out the “tools:” chainsaws, hedge trimmers, knives, saws, etc. And everything will be rusty. So, mom’s old advice, “Don’t talk to strangers!” still holds true.

Don’t – Investigate Strange Noises

If you hear a strange noise while on the lam from a vicious killer, for the love of God, don’t go investigate it! No good will come of this. Seriously. Along those same lines, never, ever ask, “Who’s there?” I can guarantee you that you don’t want to know the answer to that question.

Stay locked in at Entertainment Maven for a chance to win a copy of Wrong Turn 5 on Blu-Ray!

Toronto After Dark 2012: American Mary Review (Kirk Haviland)

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012

American Mary (2012)

Starring Katherine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk, Davis Lovgren and Twan Holliday

Written and Directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska

The Soska Sisters, better known to those in genre circles as the “Twisted Twins”, arrived at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival with their 2^nd feature film, American Mary. The creators of the provocative Dead Hooker in a Trunk return with a graphic horror thriller based in the world of extreme body modification. Does American Mary live up to the promise most genre fans found in Dead Hooker?

Buried under medical bills and tuition, medical student Mary Mason (Isabelle) finds herself disillusioned with both the poverty of student life and chauvinistic treatment by her teachers and peers. Looking through online personals, she stumbles across a position for a dancer. A chance event at the seedy nightclub where her interview accidentally happens to open the door to a lucrative but dangerous side career: performing extreme body modifications for private clients. At first resistant to the pull coming from the clients clamoring for her business, a visit to her surgeon mentor’s home for a dinner party drastically alters the course of events in her life, and the deeper she falls in the darker the water gets.

American Mary relies heavily on the talents of its lead performer, Katherine Isabelle of Ginger Snaps fame. Her performance is outstanding. Her Mary commands the screen and demands you pay attention. The script itself is smart, edgy and thoroughly researched. Nothing on film appears to ring false as it appears the Soska Sisters clearly have a solid grasp on the source material. That said, it does have some dialogue that sounds weird and not all of the performances work. One of the villains of the piece literally comes off as a foul mouthed cross between Alan Rickman’s Hans and Alexander Gudunov’s Karl from the movie Die Hard. The standout in the supporting roles for me was Twan Holliday as Lance, his performance is fantastic as the comic relief of the piece. From the seedy strip club to Mary’s dingy but way too huge for her to afford apartment, the set, locations and set design for the film is another of this films strongest points. This film looks fantastic. The Soska’s have taken a giant leap forward in skill and technical proficiency with this film. The originality of the script, the griminess of the set pieces and Isabelle’s fiery delivery all show that they are truly a duo on the rise as directors.

The biggest issue I have, and it’s not that big a deal, is the length of the film. Clocking in at almost two hours the film could use a bit of trimming. There are some sequences, one including a detective and the multiple fantasy sequences of club owner Billy that could be trimmed or excised from the film altogether as they end up going nowhere in the end.

An early contender for my favorite film of the fest, American Mary is not going to be accessible for everyone. But Katherine Isabelle’s standout performance should been seen by as many possible. American Mary is a strong recommend.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

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imagiNATIVE: Where We Were Not Review (Paolo Kagaoan)

imagiNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival 2012

Where We Were Not, Part 1: Alexus’ Story

Directed by Alexus Young

Alexus recounts what we assume is a typical snowy night in Saskatoon. There’s a doodley quality to this animation. Its colours, instead of a block with careful gradations of shade, seem penciled in, but it still has a luminous effect. We also occasionally see her drawing of her own well-structured face, her long hair swept on her right side with different streaks of brown and blond. Her face expresses resignation, blinded by foggy shroud of police lights. This effortless quality of animation also conveys a loss of innocence that fits Alexus’ titular story about being stopped by the Saskatoon police before the latter was involved in a controversial incident that has led to a First Nation man’s death.

For a six-minute short it’s loaded with information and arcs and movements. In a short time we see a complex person and not a label, Alexus being honest about her own imperfections despite declaring her innocence. There’s also an interlude about the Saskatoon bridge that her police car passes by, expressing such controlled poetry despite the fear she must have felt during this brief time of her life. The title, of course, implies that there should be more stories to tell and I’m excited to see them when they come out.

Where We Were Not, Part 1: Alexus’ Story is one of seven short films included within the imagiNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival’s Turning Points: Shorts Program. It’s a program that explores the personal power struggles that First Nations individuals of all genders and sexualities face.

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Planet in Focus 2012 – Lost Rivers Review (Kirk Haviland)

Planet in Focus Environment Film Festival 2012

Lost Rivers (2012)

Directed by Caroline Bâcle

This year’s opening night of the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival kicked off with the world premiere of Caroline Bâcle’s Lost Rivers. The documentary aims to inform us of the rivers under major cities around the world, and the efforts from a dedicated few to save them.

Once flowing through nearly every developed city in the world, rivers provided the infrastructure upon which most modern metropolises were built. Lost Rivers leads us down the drain into vast underground museums of urban development that have sprung up surrounding the protection and unearthing of these flowing rivers. The films takes us through the hidden river networks of London, Brescia (Italy), Montreal and Toronto where intrepid groups of subterranean explorers known as “drainers” reveal the buried waterways that house the secrets of each city’s past. The film also explores some of the recent government funded initiatives to resurface and revitalize these forgotten waterways in Yonkers and Seoul, and the more grassroots efforts in places like Toronto. The film is strung together with a narrative from the director and manages to maintain an unobtrusive distance from the subject for most of the film.

While the stunning cinematic shots that do come out of certain areas of the film are breathtaking, the film’s main focus is to get down and dirty and into the muck of these tunnels. Now filled with sewage and other assorted trash, the rivers still run freely below the city, but when heavy rain hits they flood over very quickly, and in some places like Toronto, overtake the walls of the sides of the tunnels and force raw sewage directly into the sea without hitting the treatment plants first. In other places of the world, the “Drainers” are treated as historians and well regarded for their works. In Brescia they search for evidence of the lost world beneath the streets. Yet in Montreal they are openly breaking the law.

The film manages to convey its message with little overall fanfare as there is not a lot of cinematic license in the production. The film relies on its magnitude of information and the likeability of the subjects to keep the film moving along. Sadly this is not enough to drive the film home completely and leads to some “dry areas” of the film where interest may wain. That said, I still found myself fascinated more than not. The project in Yonkers may be the most successful part of the film as it features engaging subjects and the project was a massive success. While seeing this story play out you quickly realize that this has become the heart of the film.

Not under water, but those waders sure are getting a bit wet, Lost Rivers is hurt by its simplicity and its reliance on interviews with the traditional talking heads motif, but really does very well for itself when it goes underground. While the film may not be the most fascinating on the whole, the situation is and the information here is top notch. Lost Rivers gets a mild recommend.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

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Planet In Focus 2012: Bay of All Saints Review (Kirk Haviland)

Planet In Focus Environment Film Festival 2012

Bay of All Saints (2012)

Directed by Annie Eastman

Part of the lineup at this year’s Planet In Focus Environmental Film Festival, Bay of all Saints takes us deep into an area of a world we rarely get to see. In Brazil’s Bay of all Saints district the otherwise homeless have taken to the water for refuge. Rows and Rows of palafitas, haphazard hand built shacks supported directly over the water on stilts, house this makeshift urban community. When the government decides that the land is too valuable as a development project to allow these palafitas to continue to exist, the residents are slated for relocation. Over the course of six years, Norato, a friendly and flirty refrigerator repairman raised in these sea-lodged slums, guides us through the personal histories and daily struggles of Geni, Jesus and Dona Maria, three single mothers that have settled on the bay.

The government’s efforts to reclaim the occupied waters in the name of ecological restoration mean an uncertain future for each of the hardworking families, who cannot be sure if the promise of social housing will be kept. These women have already been through damming experiences that led them to live on the Bay in the first place. Geni does not want to budge as moving into the social housing development will take her farther away from her work. Jesus spends her days cleaning clothes for the little funds she can muster as her 15 year old daughter Rafaela lays on the couch, pregnant and without the support of the baby’s father. Dona Maria is a widowed mother of 19 children, 15 of which are still alive. She is literally the little old lady who lives in a shoe from the nursery rhymes of old.

The camera follows Norato as conditions deteriorate and palafitas rot and fall apart. These women know Norato so they open up on camera and talk about their frustrations and desires to leave, waiting on the very hand that meant to move them before that they violently opposed. Director Eastman manages to stay completely behind the camera and away from the situations as Norato asks the questions and drives the story for her, and the film is a stronger document for it. There is very little staging here, most of the film feels very natural, as we wind down the narrow walkways of planks between the shacks, in and out of the lives of the people there. In the end all three women end up in vastly different areas. As anticipated the government agency hasn’t fulfilled its promise to build better housing, but instead has decided to do exactly what the bay residents have been doing for years, fill in the bay.

Compelling and fascinating, Bay of All Saints has a strong sense of what it intends to show its audience and the journey takes no false steps. The lives of these ladies are well worth your time and I give Bay of All Saints a solid recommend.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

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