Doppelganger

Title - Doppelganger

Language - English

Genre - Horror, psychological

Patrick can’t believe his luck when the beautiful Holly rents his spare room but he soon begins to suspect that there is something strange about her.  He sees her on the street but when he calls her she ignores him and when he mentions it she denies even leaving the house.  Even when they sleep together she denies it was her.  As the relationship continues Holly behaviour seems to get stranger.

Holly's brother is confined in a metal home.  He was accused of throwing their farther out of a window when he was eleven and Holly herself has recently been accused of killing their mother.

Holly tells Patrick that it wasn't her, that the person he has been seeing around (and sleeping with)  is the same person who killed her mother and that it is not actually human but a Doppelganger, a spirit or demon that is a duplicate of Holly. As Patrick tries to find the truth to what is going on he finds that there may be some truth in Holly’s claims and, even if there isn't there is definitely more going on  than anyone knows.

Doppelganger is an odd film that i came across  on one of the less known Uk TV channels (at the time) and it had me hooked almost straight away.  The film is part thriller part ‘Psycho’ and part horror movie and for a long time we (the viewer) are made to wonder if the monster and other Holly are real or if it is just all in her head and, as the film progresses the mystery gets stranger.

Doppelganger has a good flow and Drew Barrymore does well at switching between good and bad Holly, although I’m not sure where the scene where Holly kicks Danny Trejo between the legs is supposed to fit in.  The film has a good feel to it with some of the jump scares tuning out to be dreams that are almost reminiscent of the dream scenes in ‘An American Werewolf in London’ and these coupled with the hallucinations and reflections of the creature that Holly has all add the mystery of what is actually true.

I have seen a couple of reviews for Doppelganger in the past and none of them thought the film was much good and I really do have to disagree with them.  There isn't much gore in the film but that’s ok it a more psychological film, focusing more on the ‘is she mad’ aspect of Holly than on the gore and murders.  There is a bit of sex and nudity but it does not detract from the film, instead it is used to show/hint at and move along relationships between some of the various characters.  One of the reviews I saw stated that the only reason to watch the film was for the shower scene featuring Drew Barrymore and yes it’s always nice to see some naked flesh on screen I’m not sure that the other reviewer quite understood that the scene was also there to show part of the ‘other’ aspect of Holly mind.

As I said earlier Doppelganger is, in some ways more than one thing, the psychological, the slasher and the monster and in other films i have reviewed I have said that this kind of tale doesn't always seem to work.  In some other films i have reviewed some parts just seem to have been added to cover all the bases, for instance in the Japanese Cursed the film seems to suffer from not really knowing what is killing off the character, some are killed by slashers, some by ghosts whilst others just disappear.  This is not the case with doppelganger, the genre switching mystery is handled in such a way that not knowing what we are actually dealing with until the end actually helps keep us interested instead of leaving us with a jumble unnecessary plot lines and characters (although until the end I was beginning to wonder what the point of Holly’s dad was).

Over all I would recommend Doppelganger it has a good narrative, a mystery, a monster, some killing, some (female) nudity and a cameo by Danny Trejo.  Who could ask for more?

Thale

           

 

   Title – Thale

             Language – Norwegian

             Genre – Supernatural, monster

Thale starts with Leo & Elvis cleaning up a dead body form a house (It’s their job) when they discover a hidden cellar.  It is obvious that some one use to live in the cellar as it is furnished. The pair soon discover a number of out of date tinned food, an old cassette player, a bath full of a creamy liquid and a sealed fridge all of which are coved in grime and don’t seem to have been used for a while.  As they explore, Leo & Elvis discover a naked woman who is, to begin with quite aggressive.  The woman never speaks but they learn from the old tapes that she is known as ‘Thale’.  As the cleaners wait for their friends to check out the basement it becomes obvious that there is more to Thale then meets the eye but can they find out what before what ever is in the woods outside gets in, maybe there is a clue inside the fridge.

Thale is a slow paced yet atmospheric ‘Cabin in the woods’ movie with a small but effective cast.  For most of the movie we only have the 3 main characters, Leo, Elvis & Thale.  As Thale never speaks most of the movie is made up of the other two characters trying to find out why she is in the cellar from the old tapes and this does lead to the film having quite a slow pace but it is never boring as the atmosphere inside the cabin is quite claustrophobic as, to begin with we never know what Thale is going to do.  Then, as the film progress’s the atmosphere becomes more oppressive as the creatures in the wood seem to be getting closer.

In some (small) way Thale reminds me of the original ‘Evil Dead’ with the atmospheric cabin and the mysterious tape player but, Thale never need’s the use of gore in the same way as ‘Evil Dead’ as it relies more on the mystery of Thales past and of not knowing what is outside.

There does seem to be a couple of unnecessary plot lines (without giving two much away Leo’s secret & Elvis’ secret) in Thale which I think were in to help build up the characters and (in once case) to show something of the true nature and power of Thale herself but I believe that, whist there was point to Leos secret the film would not have lost anything with out it and, although Elvis’ secret really didn’t have much bearing on the main plot of the film it felt a little bit of a lose end, it could either have been brought into the main story a bit more or left out.

I would highly recommend giving Thale a watch, it is very atmospheric film and the part of Thale is especially well portrayed by Silje Reinåmo who manages to develop the character with out saying a word or, for a lot of the movie wearing any clothes.