Gatchaman, Death Notes and rhinoceros

Gatchaman Crowds - Insight

*Contains Spoilers*

At the time of writing we are on episode 9 of the second season of Gatchaman Crowds and I am continued to be impressed.  If you're not familiar with the series you still may have hear the name ‘Gatchaman’ which was an anime/cartoon that was around in the 1980’s that went by a number of different names, depending on where in the world you lived.  You could have known it by:

G-Force

Battle of the planets

Eagle Riders

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman

The 80’s series followed a team of heroes who fought space aliens and donned bird themed costumes.  The Series followed a ‘monster of the week’ format in the same style as Power rangers or Terrahawks where we see the enemy send a monster to attack  earth and the Gatchaman team would fight and defeat it.  Gatchaman Crowds is not the 80’s series, the hero’s still, occasionally, transform into costumes, some of which are bird themed but gone are the weekly monsters, replaced with a series long threat and characters who scheme and plot to their own ends.  And we don't just get one scheme, in the second season we start with a terrorist group who want to get rid of the crowds which are blue or red creatures which can be summoned by their users to help them in anything.  We also have a new visiting alien, Gelsandra who becomes obsessed with  making humans happy and ‘one’.  The crowds are soon remove to make way for the new story but i think they will make a return by the end of the series.

As i stated above we are now on episode 9 and I find myself drawing similarities first to ‘Death Note’, an anime and now live action series from Japan about a boy who finds a book which will kill anyone whose name is written in it (A very basic synopsis I know, I’ll cover more later) but also I found myself comparing Gatchaman to the play ‘rhinoceros’ by Eugene Ionesco.  Gatchaman contains the themes of sociological change and individuality with a number of characters whose’ gender is questionable, I have to admit I was unsure of Rui Ninomiya’s gender for most of the first season.  In Episode 8 we are introduced to the Kuu-sama, creatures that are only concerned with making humanity (or at least Japan) one, meaning that they want a society where everyone is happy but also of one mind.  Anyone who disrupts this oneness is swallowed by the Kuu-sama.  This is where Gatchaman is similar to ‘Death Note’.  In ‘Death Note’ Light Yagami is using the titular book to make a ‘perfect’ society by killing off criminals, thus making most people feel safer and scarring anyone who would consider a criminal act.  As ‘Death Note’ progresses it is questioned where Kira (the name given to Light by the public) will stop, if he starts punishing lower crimes this may affect more of the normal people.  This point is expanded in ‘Gatchaman Crowds’, when the Kuu-sama start absorbing people it is those who are social problems, the people who play their music loud at night and the people who molest women on the tube train but it soon expands to anyone who doesn’t want to doesn’t want to do the same as a group which leads to people joining in with activities not because they want to but because they want to but because they are afraid to do anything different.  We also see the same disregard for the current law enforcement that starts to happen in ‘Death Note’, in Death Note there are a lot of the normal population who start to side with Kira over the police because he is seen to be doing something about the rising crime where the police appear to be powerless and in Gatchaman we see the population turning against the Gatchaman team who are a law enforcement team where aliens are concerned.  Even when the Kuu-sama start to absorb people the majority of the population  react by ignoring the Gatchaman’s warnings because the affected people can be seen to deserve it.

As I have said Gatchaman Crowds also follows covers the subject of individuality and fitting in which is where the comparison with the play ‘rhinoceros’.  There are a few different  groups/identities in Gatchaman, the most obvious are the Gatchaman themselves who are known as the Gatchaman even in their civilian identity but the character within the group some of which are aliens.  As I've already mentioned one of the team members O.D. is a famous cross drag queen who is also a Co host on a popular T.V. show who questions his identity when a second drag queen is brought onto the show.  I found Gatchaman became similar to 'Rhinoceros' with the introduction of the Kuu-sama.  In 'Rhinoceros' people start changing into Rhinoceros (for no reason) and, although it is first seen as strange it becomes a new fashion with those who do not turn being seen as strange and uncool even though it not known what is causing it or if it is dangerous.  This is the same reaction with the Kuu-sama, to begin with no one knows where they come from but, when it is found that they make people feel better about themselves and happier people just accept them and try to make anyone who doesn't accept them.  The comparison is continued when you consider the earlier in the series the public chose to stop using the crowd so, instead of changing from person to rhinoceros we have the change from crowds to Kuu-sama.

Gatchaman Crowds is a good thought provoking anime which uses science fiction to bring across interesting points about society and human culture. 

John Carter

Title - John Carter
Language - English
Genre - Sci-fi

Characters

John Carter - Our hero, an earth man & a bit of a rogue

Dejah Thoris - A Red Martian princess

Tars Tarkas - A Green Martian warrior

Sab Than - A red Martian, our villain (kind of)

John Carter is a Disney film based upon ‘The Princess of Mars’ by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan and follows John Carter a soldier in the American confederate army who finds himself transported to Mars.

I have to say that when I started to watch John Carter I was unsure of what to expect as most of the review’s I had read had said how bad it was but I have to disagree with them.

The film is not entirely faithful to the book but it keeps the same feel. For example When John is transported to Mars in the book he is chased by Native Americans into a cave where he experiences a strange sensation, hears a creature behind him and then passes out to wake up on Mars, where as in the film he is chased into the same cave but he finds a dying Martian who is attempting to return to Mars but who ends up sending John instead, this is all part of a slightly new story line which does work well in the film.

There are some quite funny moments in John Carter some of which are brought from the book.  When John first arrives on Mars he doesn’t know where he is and so doesn’t expect the difference in gravity resulting in his comedic attempts to move, this scene is played for laughs but also sets up  things for further in the film.  I’ve read that this scene in the book was part of what influenced the creation of Superman who, when he first appeared couldn't fly but could leap tall buildings with a single bound and, when seeing it on the screen it is easy to how the two could be linked.

Another good thing about the film is the portrayal of  Dejah Thoris who is a Martian princess who is being forced into marriage for political reasons.  Although she is being forced to marry someone she doesn’t want to she is not portrayed as needing saving and shows, more than once that she can stand on her own to feet.  It’s worth noting that she is also depicted wearing more clothing than in the book although this is probably due to the film being a Disney film and so aimed a younger audience.

One thing worth mentioning are the effects.  One of the reasons John carter is slated in other reviews is the amount of money it cost to make but you can see that a lot of it went into the effects.  There are three intelligent humanoid(ish) races on Mars in the first book as well as the animals and in the film there is an extra race.  The new race and the red Martians are the most human so they would be the most easy to do but the four armed green Martians and the white apes of Mars needed to have some money spent on them otherwise they may have looked out of place or tacky and it was obvious that the money had been spent on all of the film and not just the main characters, this was shown in the baby green Martians.

One thing John carter avoids is the slight racist tone of the books which is a sign of the time they were written in although this was more obvious in the second book than the first.

Over all I found John Carter a quite enjoyable movie that would be fun to watch with the family.

 

Better keep an eye on the kids

Title - Village of the damned (1960)
Language - English
Genre - Horror

Characters:

Alan Bernard - an army man friends of the Zellaby’s

Gordon Zellaby - a professor

Anthea zellaby - Gordon's Wife

David Zellaby - Gordon’s son & leader of the ‘others’

Village of the damned is a film based upon ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’ by John Wyndham which has also been the inspiration for Stephen King’s ‘Under the Dome’.

The main theme of ‘Village of the Damned’ seems to be paranoia.  The film is set in the small English village of Midwich which seems to be out in the middle of the countryside.  The army are nearby practicing maneuvers and it is is hinted a few times in the film  (and more in the book) the the villagers are suspicious of what they are actually doing.  Every living thing passes out in Midwich village an event that some of the villager think was caused by the army testing some kind of new weapon but this is treated as more of an irritation.  The feeling of paranoia really starts when the women of Midwich begin finding out that they are pregnant, to begin with the connection with the pregnancies and the previous event are not noticed and so many of the men start thinking that their wives have been cheating on them and, as Midwich is only a small village there is suspicion around.  Once the link has been found and it is revealed that all the women are pregnant the source of the paranoia is shift to the unborn children and village almost becomes divided by gender, the women are doing their best to keep their families together but we see that the men are reacting with fear towards them.  This is one of the scenes that makes ‘Village of the Damned’ an interesting film because it does not portray the women as weak victims or as eye candy, it shows that they are all different characters who are just trying to cope with the situation they find themselves in.

The mood improves slightly when the children are born and the seem to be normal but the fears soon return when the children s true nature is revealed.  The villagers try to take control of the children  but soon find that even the army is powerless and that other countries have taken very drastic action to solve the problem.

The question that is raised is should the villagers even try to force the children to follow the same rules as them.  They are obviously a different creature to the villagers and most of what they do is to defend themselves, the children know that, for the most part  they are superior to the rest of the villages but they do seem to know that they are making some of the villagers uncomfortable.  In one scene we see that the children are aware that they are making the shop owners nervous and they say that they will arrange someone else.  Apart from the facts that the children over react to the perceived threats they do seem to be trying to keep themselves to themselves and this would mean that the real bad guys are the villagers who are reacting mainly from fear.

The Village of the Damned is a good film, relying more on atmosphere than on scares and jumps and raises a few good questions.

She's not a barbie girl in a vampires world

Title - Killer Barbies (aka Killer Barbys & Vampire Killer Barbys)
Language - English Dub (original Spanish)
Genre - horror, Vampire

Characters:

Mario - Band member

Flavia - Band Member

Rafa - Band Member

Silvia - Band Member lead singer

Billy - Band Member

Baltasar -  mad Monk

Arkan - the carer/lover of Condesa

Condesa - an ancient countess/singer

Pipa - A Dwarf

Pipo - A Dwarf

The Killer Barbies are a Spanish Rock Punk band and this was their first film.  As far as i can tell there is one other.

At first Killer Barbies struck me as quite a generic vampire/slasher film in most.  We have a group of young adults, in this case the members of the Killer Barbies, who are traveling  somewhere.  They go down the wrong road which is a dirt track and then come off the road, damaging their van.  They then meet a strange man who invites them to spend the night in his castle which is, of course inhabited by a vampire.  The group split up, some go to the castle and two stay behind in the van.  It’s so standard that i could even tell you who first people were to get killed and, if you’d seen any other slasher films it wouldn't be a spoiler.  I won’t,  just in case it’s your first horror film.

It’s this style that does lead to some of the strangeness of the film though.  They are obviously trying for the gothic feel of a vampire film but some things are slightly off.  The castle is not what you’d assume.  Instead of a gothic grey stoned building with towers and a portcullis we have a square whitish building which is referred to in the film as looking like a convent or prison.  Keeping with the gothic nature of the film we are told that the castle/convent is haunted by a mad monk whose origin story sounded like something take from ‘a nightmare on elm street’ but the problem was it was hard to tell which character was meant to be the monk, the way he told the tale I first thought it was Arkan but i think it was supposed to be Baltasar.

Some of the aspects of the house also seemed a bit unnecessary, for instance there is a ‘Chess Room’, a room with a black & white tiled floor and a couple of chess pieces and for some reason a crib with a creepy baby doll in it. I know they are probably trying to set a creepy scene but the room just seems out of place in the castle and the film.

The characters are an interesting mix.  First off we have the killer Barbie’s (or Killer Barbys depending on what version of the film you have) they are a group of late teens (silvia gives her age as 19) who would fit in with any slasher.

Then there is Arkan when i first saw him I assumed he was our Van- Helsing type but no he’s the one who feeds the vampire.  Which makes Balthasar seem out of place, he is our Igor/Renfield or slasher and he would be better served without Arkan who seems to be there to for fill a romantic roll that never actually appears.  Then we have Pipa & Pipo to twin (I think) dwarfs who are Balthasar’s assistance and possibly meant as comic relief.

The we have Condesa our vampire.  It’s never said that she is undead and she is never actually referred to as a vampire.  She is more of an Elisabeth Bathory character who needs blood to stay young although for some one who claims to be  over a hundred years old she does seem to lack any sense of self preservation.

If you add all of this to film that doesn't seem to know if it’s night or day,  a smoke machine that doesn’t seem powerful enough to reach all of the sets, a film that had to change the spelling in its title due a certain toy manufacturer complaining and dubbing the just doesn't seem right (in the version i had.  The film should have been Spanish and I could only get a dubbed version) and you would expect a mess but, in true B movie style Killer Barbies works. As you’d expect in slasher/vampire film the gore and dead body effects are good, the story makes enough sense, the sex fits the narrative (& there's quite a bit) and the acting to just the right side of naff and over the top.  This is all helped along by half decent characters, the female leads are not the normal helpless type that are there just to scream and die, although one does end up running through the woods in nothing except silver knee high boots.

If you have a spare couple of hours and want something that’s not too taxing give give Killer Barbies a watch but only if you're not offended by nudity, both male and female.

Mad Max in the court of King Aurther

Title - Doomsday
Language - English
Genre- sci-Fi

Characters:

Eden Sinclair - A DDS agent, Survivor from Scotland and our hero

Kane - a Doctor trapped in Scotland who may have the cure

Sol - leader of the punks

Cally - a helpful girl

25 years ago a new virus appeared in Scotland. Called the Reaper virus It could not be cured so Scotland was walled off and the population were left to die.  3 years ago evidence of survivors were found but the government told no one and did nothing.  Now the reaper virus has been found in London, in an attempt to stop the virus a team is sent to Scotland to try to find a cure.

I remember that after watching this for the first time i had a ‘what have i just seen’ moment as Doomsday seems to be many films in one. It starts as a quite violent plague movie  as we see the population of Scotland trying to escape their fate, when a Reaper virus victim is spotted all hell breaks loose as the army open fire  and evacuate the country.  The violence then continues as we jump 25 years and the film becomes a spy movie which introduces us to DDS agent Sinclair.

The film changes pace when Sinclair and her team re enter Scotland.  We are shown plenty of shots of dead bodies and, when this is combined with the virus the film takes on the feel of zombie movie, similar to ‘28 days later’.  Sinclair and her team look like something out of ‘Aliens’ and, given the atmosphere the viewer is always expecting something horrible to jump out at them and this Zombie style is continued whilst the team look for Doctor Kane in his old hospital, the vibe is continued as they find a lone girl.

When the enemy is revealed the feel of the film changes again. Now we are in a post apocalyptic film filled with cannibalistic punks who ride motorbikes and drive cars & buses covered in spikes which will always bring ‘Mad Max’ to mind.  We stay in this world for a bit and the film seems to have found it’s style but no Sinclair and her team escape Sol with the help of Cally who says she can help them find Kane.

So our heroes jump on a train and cut through a mountain via an old military storage unit and are attacked by a man on horseback in a suit of medieval armour, he is basicly the black knight.  They are taken to Kane who is ruling over his own bit of Scotland like a medieval king.  Then we have an escape using a Bentley car which leads us to (great) car chase back through mad Max land.

As well as all this there is also a political angle with two parties playing for power and trying to take control of the rest of the U.K..

If this much was thrown into most movies they normally turn into a mess there are even some movies that can’t cope with one genre if they try to put too many tropes into it but Doomsday works.  I think it is because it just over the top enough so it can’t always be taken too seriously but doesn’t descend into farce.  The action is so over the  top that at one point one of the punk’s cars hits a dead body and then bursts into flames.

There are a few inconsistencies relating to the passage of time, the punks still have fresh cans of lager  but no one seems to be making them.  The punks are cannibals due to the lack of food but there is an overpopulation of cows and all knowledge of modern technology seems to have disappeared in Kain’s kingdom but even these don’t detract from the film.

Over all Doomsday is a great, over the top romp that pays homage to number of great films, there's even a cameo by William Wallis.

Know your place or the monsters will get you

Title - Society
Language - English
Genre - Horror, monster

Bill - our hero

Milo - Bill’s Friend

David Blancher - Bill’s Friend

Jenny - Bill’s sister

Dr. Cleveland- A Psychiatrist

Shauna - Bill’s girlfriend

Clarissa - A rich girl

This will contain some spoilers

Society is a horror film from 1989 that I've seen a few times and it still creeps me out now.  The Film follows Bill Whitney, a normal kid in his late teens.  He’s popular, is from a rich family in Beverly hills and shouldn't have much to worry about, but Bill has a problem, he doesn't feel like he fits in.  He suspects that there is something strange about his family.  Because of this Bill is seeing Dr. Cleaveland who keeps telling him that is normal for people of his age to feel like that. As the film progresses Bill starts noticing strange things. He sees some people who seem to have twisted themselves into strange positions or people having conversations about a crop of slugs.  Bill is approached by David who is one of his friends and Jenny, Bill’s sister’s ex.  David claims that he knows that Bill is right and that he can prove it.  David gives Bill a tape of Jenny’s ‘Coming out’ party this is a party that 18 year old's go through to recognize that the have become adults.  David had bugged Jenny and recorded the party and, when Bill’s the tape it sound like the part is just an excuse for sex and incense.  Bill takes the tape to Dr Cleveland but, when the tape is played back the next day it’s totally different and before he can get a second copy of the tape David is killed in a car accident.

Society is extremely atmospheric for the first hour of the film Bill is trying to find out what is happening whilst trying to remain sane.  For the most part everyone seems normal but there is always the feeling that something else is going on, there is the odd word here or there such as the references to ‘Shunting’ or strange events like objects appearing in Bill’s car and locker.  The soundtrack helps to set the mood with old classic songs with quite high voices singing.  Unlike a lot of horrors society does not rely on jump scares, the first hour is quite slow paced and the viewer is not sure at the start if there is anything wrong or whether Bill is crazy.  Most of what he sees and hears is explained away or seems to be some kind of a hallucination, even the death of David is brought into question part way through the film.

The last half hour changes the film from the psychological to the horror as Bill finally finds out what is happening and, oddly enough this part of the film has the most humour and this would normally be an odd turn for a film that’s spent so much time setting such a paranoid environment and which is now introducing the true horrors of what is going on. In this case it works though, without the humour the film would turn to dark, there is virtually no sex in the film but the implications of both the feeding and the ‘shunting’ make for dark implications for the true nature of the rich society.

This brings is to the true moral of the film.  Each class of society sees the other classes as different but most classes have one thing in common, to get enough money to live.  The rich don’t have this problem but it seems that they will do whatever they need to to get more.  This can give the impression of the rich being out of touch with the normal people.  Society (the film) takes this to the extreme making the high society a completely different race who feed of humans.

The film is full of interesting characters and the way they interact is interesting. There are always signs that there is something wrong but you can never put your finger on it. The only character that seems to a monster actually comes to Bill help at the end.

The final message rings true, it doesn't matter if you fight the monster or what you uncover, you may get away but nothing changes and in some ways this makes the film a prime candidate for a sequel that it's never got.

Given it’s age Society doesn't come across as being too dated, a couple of the monster effects show their age but, for the most they still stand up.  apart from the fashion the only other thing that could date it is the equipment that David uses to bug bug Jenny.

Over all society is a solid film with a strong story and a disturbing monster that has some great lines and may give you something to think about is well worth at least one watch.

Mirror's demons and partys

Title - Mirror Mirror 4: Reflections
Language - English
Genre - Horror, Haunted house

Characters:

The Mirror - A villain, a portal and general mcgubbin

Annika - Our protagonist

Ian - Annika's boyfriend

Chad - party organizer

Melissa - Chad's girlfriend, a bit of bi**h

Jack - a party goer

Joey - a party goer, Jack's sidekick

Frederick - a homeless man

The Countess - Chad’s boss, not a real countess

Reflections is the fourth and final of the 'Tales of the Mirror Mirror' series.  After the thirds film to try to take series in a different direction Reflections returns to its horror roots concentrating more on the 'haunted house' elements of  the second film, Ravens Dance than the high school horror style of the first.

The film opens with Ian, a young man and his girlfriend Annika entering an old theater that Ian owns so he can propose to her.  At the same time the theater cleaner finds an old (yet familiar if you've seen the other films) mirror.  The cleaner sings and dances in front of the mirror and then burst into flames.  Ian and Annika hear the cleaner scream, they go to investigate and find the remains of the cleaner.  Something come out of the mirror and chases them, killing Ian.  The film then jumps a year where we find Annika is still missing Ian, to please her mother Annika goes out to a Halloween party that is being thrown at the old theater.  Following what she thinks is the ghost of Ian she ends up in the room with the mirror and, along with four of the party guests ends up getting knocked out.  When the five of them wake up all the party guests have gone and a hurricane is blowing outside.  The five try to get out or survive the increasingly strange events that are happening in the theater.

The characters in Reflections would be at home in most slasher/young adult horror films as they fall into the normal familiar roles. You have

Annika as the innocent virgin

Chad as the jock

Melissa as the spoilt girl who is used to getting what (or who) she wants

Jack as the bully type who just takes what he wants, this includes women

Joey as the stupid one

Annika also fills the role as the strange one or the outsider, she doesn't fit into the group and annoys most of the others in one way or another but she still manages to be a likeable character whereas the virgin in a lot of other slasher is either so annoying you want them to hurry up and die or is there to change and grow strong and fit in (in other high school films the freak/virgin is used to teach the popular girl a lesson see clueless).  The roles of the other characters do seem to be a bit in your face to begin with, although  depending on how you see the film there is a reason for this.  Jack spend the film dressed as Jack the Ripper and is portrayed as being a very predatory person  he tries to teach Joey that "When a woman says no she really means yes.  Joey spend the film dressed as a hunchback, just in case you can't tell he's a sidekick.  He tries to live like Jack but is so pathetic no one takes him seriously.  Melissa is always trying to find ways of being alone with Chad, she has a bad attitude towards people she doesn't like and talks about clothes. Chad tries to be in charge and that’s about all, he is called the jock by the other characters but doesn't come across as the football obsessed muscle brain moron you normally associate with that roll.

Two of the most interesting characters are the two late comers, Frederick the not so creepy homeless man who acts as a mentor to Annika for most of the film and The Countess who seems almost unreal.

In one way the Countess manages to do something that has not really been done in any of the previous films and that is to provide a link, she recognizes the mirror as one she had read about had led to the death of a couple of Nun’s in a nunnery.  Until this point nothing had said that it was the same mirror in all the films, in fact the first film had implied that the mirror could not leave the house it was in.  It is also possible that Frederick was the return of a character from the third film who was using a different name.  The only other link that I’ve seen in any of the films was in the third film when Joey (i don’t think it was the same character as the Joey in Reflections) pulls a stuffed raven out of the cupboard, this is a nod to the second film.

We see more of the mirror demon in Reflections than we do in any of the other films and i have to say I was a bit disappointed, in the previous films we have seen only glimpses of some kind of a demon but in reflections the demon we see looks like some kind of zombie.  I have to say i did like the effects on a later demon like creature though.

Reflections also differed from the other films in that it seemed to be carrying an anti - rape message.  There seemed to be a lot of time spent on Jack and his views on women but also how both Annika and Melissa reacted to his advances (as well as Joey’s attempts) in comparison to their relationships with the other males in the film.  This differed from other horror movies, like Friday 13th and Nightmare on elm street because these say that sex before marriage is a problem but in Reflections the sex is not the problem it is the attitude of the male characters towards the female ones.

Over all Reflections is a good film that brings the series back on a track that works for it and that attempts to begin to bring the films together.

Mirror's & witches & gangsters

Title - Mirror Mirror 3: The Voyeur
Language - English
Genre - Horror, action

Characters:

The mirror - A magic mirror possessed by a demon. Our Mcgubbin

Anthony - the main protagonist. An artist

Cassandra - A Witch and Anthonys lover

Carolyn - Anthonys Partner/Wife

Joey - Anthony’s brother, also sleeping with Carolyn

Julio - Cassandra’s abusive husband. A drug dealer and not a nice person

DEA Agent Kobeck - A DEA agent looking for Cassandra and Julio.

The third film in the Tail’s of the Mirror Mirror series, the Voyeur takes a different approach than the previous two.  First off it’s gotten rid of the ‘time loop’ that is present in the other films, both of which start with the death of a previous user who the protagonist then seems destined to become.  Instead of this we see the current user, Cassandra who is using the mirror along with her own magic.  Cassandra has obviously been using the mirror for some time and is embracing it power instead of fearing it as the previous two protagonists did.

The main storyline of The voyeur is also taking a different approach.  Both Mirror Mirror 1 and Raven dance were ‘High School Horror’ type films in a similar vein as something like ‘the Craft’  or ‘ginger snaps’ but the Voyeur is trying to be a gangster/action film with the supernatural thrown in an idea that when it’s done right, like in ‘Dusk till Dawn’ can work but with the Voyeur it just seems that two elements are too separate creating two different storylines.

The story follows Anthony an artist and his lover Cassandra, a witch who is the current owner of the Mirror and who is married to Julio a gangster. Two months after Cassandra & Julio disappear Anthony and Joey move into Cassandra’s house.  The house is being watched by Agent Kobeck from the DEA who is looking for the money that Julio claims to have left there.  Not long after moving in Anthony starts seeing Cassandra, who becomes jealous of Carolyn.

There are, in my opinion a few problems with the Voyeur, first up Julio’s storyline is told mainly through flashbacks via the mirror overlayed with changing color filters making a slightly confusing mess which is made worse by the reveal of a body in the basement which may or may not be Julio.  If it is then how did it get there and if it’s not then who's is it.

The DEA agent is a confusing character.  It is implied halfway through the film that he has, in the past taken bribes  from Julio but that now he has stopped now and yet he is now after the money that Julio hid.  He calms that he is looking for Cassandra and does seem a bit concerned to what has happened to her, he has the house under surveillance including the bedrooms but he never mentions anything about Anthony talking to Cassandra which , even if he couldn't see her should have raised some concerns with him.

Carolyn is also a confusing character, her purpose in the film is obviously to give Cassandra an enemy and a reason for her to go mad but her relationship with the other characters is odd.  She says that she runs the gallery where Anthony displays his  work but she never seems to know what he is working on or the times & dates of his exhibitions, none of which seem to be at her gallery anyway.  We know that she is sleeping with Anthony and, when we first meet her their relationship seems very close but she does not live with him.  She is also sleeping with Joey, when we first meet them it seems that Joey is not really into the relationship and that it is Carolyn who is in control but part way through it is Joey who is arranging their meetings.

And then there is the sex, The Voyeur is not shy about it’s sex scenes and, lets face it it’s title implies that there will be some sex but we have a sex scene before the first title credits, a few times during the main film and flashbacks to the other scenes in the film.  Now I’m not against sex scenes and most of the time they have a purpose, often to show use why the kill has targeted those kids first, like in Friday 13th, or as some kind of comic relief like in ‘Shoot ‘em Up’ and occasion they are even used to cause tension as in ‘My Little eye’ or ‘Delicatessens’ but the Voyeur just seems to go over the top.

I think the Voyeur has the potential to be a better film, if they had improved the relationships between the characters and had Cassandra actually make Julio disappear they could have turned it into more of a psychological thriller.   They could even have left in all the sex.

Over all the voyeur was a slightly disappointing attempt to take the franchise in another direction which is a shame as it is an interesting idea to see how other people would use and be trapped by the mirror.