Uzumaki

 Title - Uzumaki
 Language - Japanese
 Genre - Horror, weird, curse

Uzumaki is an odd film.  The opening shot is of a body at the bottom of a spiral staircase.  Then we jump to Kirie, a school girl who wants to tell us what happened in her town.  As we follow Kirie and her friend Shuichi we find that there are quite a few strange character living in the town from the would be suitor of Kirie whose hobby is to try to scare her as much as possible to the tough girls who think that the main purpose of life is to be the centre of attention, then we have the boy who moves slowly and only comes to school when it rains.

Things only get stranger when Kirie sees Shuichi's father in the street, he is oblivious to everything except for the snails he is filming.  Kirie speaks to Shuichi about it and finds that Shuichi believes that his father is under the influence of a curse of vortex (the pattern of a spiral) and that his dad is obsessively collecting anything with a spiral.  As Shuichi’s farther gets more and more obsessed the strangeness of the town seems to increase as does his behaviour.  Shuichi’s mother throws out the collection of vortex related items hoping that it would stop his father's strange behaviours but it only makes things worst.  After Shuichi’s father dies the strangeness in the town only increases.

Uzumaki is a strange film.  The idea of curse of vortex was strange idea and i think that at least some of it was due to some cultural difference.  As well as the strange story line there are a number of strange camera angles and spiral effects that appear in the background all of these are there to make the viewer feel un at ease and to add a sense of vertigo to the film.

In some ways the film of Uzumaki is a bit like the ‘Final Destination’ films.  There are a number of strange, unexplained deaths, with the people in the village being stalked, not by death but by the curse.  Even some of those who survive are not safe from the vortex as it not only kills but twist, changes and mutates some of the villagers.

Like a lot of the Japanese films that make it over here (England) Uzumaki is is based on a manga and, to start with the film follows the manga quite well.  There are a couple of chapters missing from the film, for example there is a ‘Midwich cuckoo’ type chapter where most of the women in the village fall pregnant only to give birth to wasp children.  This is not in the film but, as the film concentrates on the vortex it doesn't matter.

The film focuses on Kirie and Shuichi but tries to include parts of the manga that concern other characters more and this seems to leave some parts of the plot not explained as much as they could be for example the manga fills out more about the what happens to the girls with spiral hair.  We see their fate but, if you've read the manga it makes a bit more sense.  There is also a lot more about the snails, one of whom plays a big part in the manga’s ending.

The ending of the film also seems to be a bit rushed, the female reporter is introduced but then is just left and there is a big chunk missing that is in the manga, if this was included it would make more sense that the film ends with Kirie repeating her first lines.

Uzumaki starts off as a good but strange film, the ending does not necessarily leave you with the closure it should and i found that giving it a second watch did show me more than the first time.  I think that some of the problems i had were because of cultural differences and the fact that, on the first view I may have missed a couple of the smaller points whilst I was reading the subtitles.  If you want to watch a film that has some interesting deaths and a lot of weirdness then why not give Uzumaki a watch. 

Overkill/revolutionary war

It’s looking to be a good year for comics, (well for me anyway) and I’m getting all nostalgic.  First up we had a new ‘New Warriors’ which looks to be returning to it’s roots and the New Warriors was one of the first superhero books i collected monthly, it was definitely the first  trade paperback collection i ever got as i missed the first few issues.  Next Tim Seeley announces the ‘chaos’ Mini series, Chaos comics were my first proper journey into independent comics.  I was first drawn in during a ‘bad girl’ phase by Lady Death but, unlike other comics of the time i stayed for the characters and the stories so I have high hopes for this when it’s released.  The biggest and best surprise in this years comics (so far) is marvels release of ‘Revolutionary War’.  This comic is probably the most nostalgic comic that could have been released as the characters that marvel have used are from the very first comic’s I ever read and most of them haven’t been seen for quite some time.

The characters first appeared in a Marvel UK magazine called Overkill (although there were some US releases around the same time of the characters in their own books).  I remember borrowing a copy of the first issue of overkill and being hooked from then.  The magazine consisted of a few comic strips of new characters, these were:

Hells Angel (later dark angel)

Motor mouth & Killpower

the warheads

Digitec

Deathshead 2

the knights of Pendragon

All the story arcs were connected by an evil organisation known as Mys-Tech.  The Mys-Tech board of directors had all made a pact with the demon Mephisto for immortality but they were now looking for a way to get out of the contract whilst keeping their powers but in the mean time they have to make sure that they keep providing Mephisto with the souls he requires and stop him from finding out their plan.  The comic had everything, magic, heroes, robots & devils and good stories but i had a problem I couldn't get a copy of the first issue from anywhere.  My search lead me to small comic shop concession in a virgin store.  I didn't find a copy of issue one but i did find the American issues of motor mouth, dark Angel & Warheads,  these were the same story’s that were in Overkill but with more, the story’s had been rewritten  to include some of the American hero's, this.  This was my first introduction to characters such as the x-men.

I eventually got my hands on Overkill 1, the actual copy I had borrowed as the previous owner never carried on with his collection but I’m glad it took awhile to get otherwise I’d never had found the other ‘American’ characters.

Overkill finally came to an end and i had every issue except one (i still have them all) and most of the characters were never heard again.  Until now.

I have to confess that I’m currently behind in the series but I know that i won’t have the same problem as before as I've gone digital with my collection and i know i should be able to the back issues and catch up.  What I've read so far looks good, Mys-Tech are trying to get back and the old characters seem to be as good as i remember.  I hope they are going to stay around for a bit after the series.

Just one more memory so far, there are currently rumors of a ‘Banana Man’ movie in the pipe line.

Dusk till dawn the series eps 1&2

Title - From Dusk Till Dawn (TV Series)
Language - English
Genre - vampire, gangster, supernatural

At the time of writing we are only 2 episodes in to the new ‘From Dusk till dawn’ series. As a fan of the three films (yes even the terrible ‘Texas Blood Money) thought I’d give a review of my first impressions.  Warning this will contain spoilers.

The ‘From Dusk till Dawn’ starts with a woman being thrown into a pit of snakes in what looks like an Aztec ceremony by her looks and other events further on in the series it looks like this is going to be the ’Santanico Pandemonium’ character fro the first movie.  The episode then jumps to modern times and runs with the same story as the first film.  We join the Gecko brothers as they are on the run from a bank job that resulted in the death of Texas rangers, they pull in to a Liquor store for a toilet stop and, as anyone who has seen the film knows, things go downhill from there.  The bulk of the first episode is set in the liquor store where the brothers stop off for the toilet break at the same time as a local sheriff and his partner also stop off for the same reason.  The series breaks off from the film by having the Sheriff and his partner whereas in the film there is only the sheriff. The sheriffs partner is outside the store for most of the episode which is how the plot can follow almost the same story as the film.

For anyone who has not seen the film, the Gecko Brothers are in the liquor store to get supplies as they are heading to the Mexico border so that they will be safe from the American police, whilst they are in there a local sheriff enters, as he often does to use the restroom, he is unaware that the Geckos are there.  The Gecko brothers move to the back of the store  taking two women hostage in the hope that the sheriff will leave without noticing them.  As in the film Richie Gecko starts a gun fight when he believes that the store owner is trying to pass a hidden message to the sheriff, unlike the film he is also having visions of the two hostages being some kind of monsters who are trying to trick him.  The Geckos escape and the sheriffs partner, Freddie Gonzalez sets out after them.

Episode 2 is a mix of flashbacks to the bank robbery and the Geckos getaway from the liquor store and the introduction of the Fuller family which consists of Jacob, the dad who is a preacher, his daughter Kate and his adopted son Scott.  The second episode is used to fill in some of the back story on the Geckos and show how Richie’s visions are affecting him.  It is also used to develop some the other characters,  we see how Freddie Gonzalez is tracking the Geckos and that Richie may be responsible for some crimes that Seth does not know about.

We are also shown the family dynamics of the Fuller’s and a bit of an explanation of why the two children are going along with their fathers trip even if they do not fully agree with it.

One other character who is present in the first episode and expanded on in the second is Carlos who in both the film and the series is contact that is arranging the Geckos safe haven once they  reach Mexico.  Carlos is a very different character in the series and it looks like he is going to play a much larger role in the series than the film.  The main points of episode 2 seemed to be the development of Carlos and to give more of an insight to Ritchie’s visions/mental issues.  We also see our first vampire.

I’m trying to decide whether seeing the films is going to be detrimental to watching the series.  I can’t help but compare the two.  The changes made to  the character of Carlos and the fact that Ritchie is hearing more that just perverted thoughts show that the show is taking a more supernatural direction than the film and it is this that may ruin the series for fans of the film. I think that  the fact that the vampires are appearing before any of the cast get to the ‘Titty twister’ will help the flow of the series as the film was definitely a film of 2 half’s starting as a gangsta road movie and then changing to a vampire movie halfway through, i know that this tactic is part of what made the film so good but i also know of people who were confused or put off by it and i think that, if the series went down the same path it may cause more confusion because the change would either have to happen part way through an episode, making it hard to follow if you miss it or it would have to change at the end/beginning of an episode meaning that people may think they have missed something.

Over all the series is looking good, it is staying close enough to the film for the fans to recognize the story they like but changing enough to open the series up to more than one story.  It will remain to be seen if the more supernatural aspect will negatively affect the series in any way but for now I will keep watching.

Doctor Phibes Rises Again

Title - Doctor Phibes Rises Again
Language - English
Genre - Horror, Slasher

















This is the sequel to ‘The abominable doctor Phibes’ which I've reviewed here and this review may contain some spoilers.
The film starts with a with a flashback to the first film and a voice over tells us that Doctor Phibes had joined his wife but that he was only in a death like state, waiting until the right time to carry out the next part of his plan.  Three years after the end of the first film the sun hits Doctor Phibes’ coffin in the right place and the embalming fluid that Phibes had used is replaced with his blood.
Doctor Phibes awakens and summons his companion, Vulnavia and the couple use the organ lift to go back to his house to get a papyrus out of the vault only to find the house has been demolished and the vault is empty.  Doctor Phibes tracks down the papyrus  which is a map to a tomb in Egypt and he steals it back from Beiderbecke, an archeologist who is also trying to find the tomb.
The Egyptian tomb contains the entrance to the river of life which flows once every 2000 years.  Doctor Phibes plans to go there with Vulnavia and his dead wife to resurrect her and grant them all eternal life.  Beiderbecke has been sustaining his life via a mystical elixir and wants to use the river to grant himself eternal life and end his need for the elixir.
Both Phibes and Beiderbecke race against time and each other to unlock the secrets of the tomb and to be the one who gains use of the river.

I think i mentioned in the review for the first film that  Doctor Phibes is an early example of a modern slasher and the second film carries this on.  The sequel delves into the supernatural more than the first, in the abominable Doctor Phibes, Phibes is a living man who, like Michael Myers or Pamela Voohrees is killing a set of people for his own reasons without any supernatural aid  but when we come to the second film we have a more supernatural flavor leading to our slasher becoming unkillable, if he succeeds.  I also mentioned in the first review that some of Doctor Phibes’ traps and kills   could almost have been inspiration for movies such as the saw franchises the kill’s that springs to mind in this film are

1) the one involving the golden scorpion chair, where the victim is placed in a situation where he has to put himself in danger (or wait until someone finds him) to get out of the trap

2) the final trap where Beiderbecke has has to choose between his goal or his wife.

There are a couple of issues with the flow form the first film to the second.  The voice over at the beginning of the second film says that the police uncovered clues to where Doctor Phibes was hiding and that they caught him unprepared which is why he went into the tomb at the end, this is not true Phibes told them where he was so that the doctor could find his son and try to rescue him, the fact that Phibes went into the tomb with his wife was part of is plan all along making it the 10th death and the representation of the curse of darkness.  The second issue is that at the beginning of ‘Doctor Phibes rises again’ Phibes summons Vulnavia who appears, almost ghost like to aid him but at the end of the first film we see her hit and melted by the acid.  From what I have read  I believe that Vulnavia’s odd resurrection is due to the character originally being written as one of the clockwork toys that Phibes has created this was latter written out of the first film but, if it were still the case then this would explain why she appears in the second film un-injured, she is just a different model.  This is also the reason why the character doesn't speak, the clockwork version would not be able to.

Doctor Phibes Rises Again has a good British cast and has the same type of humor as it’s predecessor, the deaths are interesting and, although not as gruesome as you may expect in a modern movie they still make the film a good slasher. There seems to be more story to the second film as Phibes is not just killing for revenge but to get back what has been stolen from him and to keep his presence secret.

If you like imaginative deaths and a few giggles I recommend both of the Doctor Phibes films and think that is a pity that there were no more made.

The Abominable Doctor Phibes

Title - The Abominable Doctor Phibes
Language - English
Genre - Horror, comedy, slasher

The Abominable doctor Phibes is the first of two Doctor Phibes films starting Vincent Price as the titular doctor.  As we start the film we see figure in a cloak and a woman as they deliver a parcel through a skylight into the room of a sleeping man.  Neither of the speak to each other whilst this is going on and the cloaked man pulls the parcel back out of the room we see that it is a cage with the door open.  The sleeping man wakes up and sees something moving in his room and a number of bats fly at him ripping his face open.

When the police investigate the dead man we find out that he was a doctor and is the second to die an unusual death, the first was stung to death by bees, his face was covered in boils.

The cloaked man and his companion, Vulnvia are then at a masquerade ball where they hand a man (another doctor) an ornate frog mask which constricts, crushing the man’s head.

The man & Vulnvia are next seen at the house of a fourth doctor who they drain all of the blood from his body, whist he is there the man accidently drops an amulet which the police use to get a clue to what is going on.

The only link the police find between the dead doctors is that they all worked one case, the wife of doctor Phibes who died on the operating table.  The amulet that doctor Phibes dropped was one of a set of ten, each representing one of the 10 plagues of Egypt and there were 9 doctors who worked on the operation.  All clues point to the murderer being Doctor Phibes except he died in a car crash the same night as his wife.

The Abominable Doctor Phibes is an early example of a slasher movie with the killer targeting the surgeons who he blames for the death of his wife and his gimmick way using the 10 biblical Egyptian plagues to kill each of the doctors making each kill more inventive than the last.  I can’t help but wonder if the ‘cures of the first born’ influenced the ‘saw’ films in any way, it’s defiantly as twisted.

The film is very ‘British’ set in London in the 1920s it has a cast of well known British actors of the time and has a dark humour to it using similar gags as can be found in some of the carry on or St Trinnians movies such as calling Inspector Trout by different fish.

Part of the horror atmosphere is helped by neither of the leads saying much.  Vulnvia is a mute and one of the injuries Doctor Phibes suffered from during the car crash was damage to his throat meaning that he can only speak when attached a device similar to a gramophone speaker.

If you like inventive kills, a few giggles and over the top acting then give The abominable Doctor Phibes a watch.

Dark Floors – the Lordi movie

 Title -Dark Floors – the Lordi movie
Language - English
Genre - Horror, monster

For those of you who don’t know Lordi is a Finnish hard rock band made up of 5 members, all of whom dress as a different monster.  They also won the Eurovision song contest  The bands line up in dark Floors is:

Mr Lordi

Kita

Amen

Ox

Awa

Dark floors is not a lordi documentary it is a horror film with the band staring as the monsters.

Due to malfunctioning equipment and no progress in treating her, Ben decides to take his daughter out of the hospital she is in; they enter a lift with a few other people and star on their way out of the hospital.  The lift stops between the 7^th and 6^th floor and then drops down the 6^th.  Everyone leaves the lift to find the hospital deserted, assuming that they have somehow missed a fire alarm the party heads to the service stairs, along the way they come across a corps with its eyes ripped out.

As the group move through the hospital they find that the conditions one each floor is worse than the previous floor and they soon find out what has happened to the rest of the staff and patience’s.

Dark floors is an atmospheric film relying more on the mood of the film than the monsters.  There is an appearance of each of the band members (one on each of the hospital floors) but very little explanation as to why they are there.  The film is quite cleaver, it plays with time and leaves you guessing as to what is happening, even without the monsters there is enough happening to make the film enjoyable.

As i said each of the band members makes an appearance,  I feel that it is good that they are all not on screen at the same time as too many monsters at once probably would have made the film feel over crowded, as it is it does seem to have a slight affect on the film as I think it would feel a bit better if it had only one antagonist. Obviously reason there are all the monsters is so that the band can all have some screen time and having one per floor does seem to work ok.

The feel of ‘Dark Floors’ is a bit odd, it has the creepy atmosphere of a horror film  and the feel of something like the Silent hill films, possibly because the nature of the film is similar.  In some places the film feels like a computer game with each floor a new level and each band member a final boss and there is also a feel that it may be a long music video (without the music) although this may influenced by the Lordi videos I had already seen as there are elements carried across from the music to the film, obviously because the bans image is such a prominent one.

Without giving too much away I’m still not completely sure what to make of the ending i think that i may be representing Sarah over coming fear.

There is also a plot thread that doesn’t seem to go anywhere and that is the drug that they have Sarah on, it sometimes looks like it is going to have something to with what is happening but, apart from providing a small bit of motivation for the cast to get move through the floors it doesn’t seem to have much point as the heroes are trying to get out of the hospital anyway.

Dark Floors is a good film, the inclusions of all the band members does not interfere with the flow of the film too much and it does have a good story and is worth a watch.