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.