J*A*S*M

(50th KVIFF) As a horror fan I don’t put most of the genre films at the top of the rankings, modern horror doesn’t usually reach the levels of quality, budget and depth to compete with films from other genres. The Witch, however, is really one of the best three films, if not the absolute best film of the 50th Karlovy Vary Film Festival, even if it might not fully correspond to what some drunken viewers were expecting in the midnight section. Such a perfectly directed horror film is something that you only see once in a blue moon. The Witch is not fun, it’s dark, terrifying, and depressing. The amazingly convincing setting of 17th century New England, with the characters and the way they speak, or, rather, what they speak about, and the almost tangible fear of the unknown hidden in the forests, of the witches and the devil’s helper, who threaten the family and drive them into madness. Eggers shows the witches very rarely, but when he does, in short but impressive sequences, it is quite something. Ew! He dedicates more time to the father, the mother, the daughter and the son and shows how the clash with the supernatural has affected their relationships, with insecurity and suspicion creeping among them. The sequence of the agitated father chopping wood in the middle of the night is, thanks to Eggers’s craftsmanship, as terrifying and unpleasant as the one of the witches performing a ritual with a helpless infant. During the scene of Caleb’s cure, I shuddered nervously in my seat and felt a chill running through my spine. Unlike many other horror movies, this one fortunately never stumbles, even in the end, which is very satisfying. After the screening I realised that this is the horror film I’ve always wanted to see even though I didn’t know it. 100 %

When I look at one of the posters of Charlie’s Farm, dominated by the murderous bulk of Charlie surrounded by the scalps of iconic slasher villains, like Freddy, Jason and Michael, I really feel like laughing right at the faces of the creators and say: “Piss off”. This new hixploitation slasher movie from Australia has nothing that would make it interesting. It doesn’t have any idea that would set it apart from a million other hixploitation slasher movies: beginning with the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and ending with last year’s Wolf Creek 2. It has no tempo – you have to wait almost an hour for the action to begin – and has not style of its own that would make that one-hour wait something bearable. It has no likeable characters, it has no competent actors even. Based on her performance, I though Ms Reid was actually and old pornstar trying to break into new genres, but then I researched a little and found that the last film she was in was Sharknado – which perhaps is even worse than porn. The only thing the film has is a murderous giant that it’s so forgettable and bland that its creators have profiled it with his weight and size (on another poster). Pathetic.

Wow, that was unpleasant to watch! A conjugal/family crisis portrayed as a psychological horror. The parents, Adam Driver and (the excellent!) Alba Rohrwacher, can not agree on how to raise and, especially, feed their newborn child. The initial verbal disagreements gradually escalate into an open and increasingly tense conflict. The rather unpleasant camera angles generate a feeling of uneasiness and anxiety. And then there is the defenceless child at stake, which doesn’t help the viewer, either. An impressive film, but I have some problems with its ending, I’m not really sure how to read it. In fact, I feel that the filmmakers themselves are unsure whether to take one side or the other, or to remain impartial. Taking one of the sides doesn’t fit into tone of the film, taking the other side is unethical. And I don’t see a completely unbiased portray, either. So, I don’t know. But it’s recommendable to watch and debate afterwards.

Stylish. In the middle of the night in a small German town, a young police officer is chasing a very creepy psycho-transvestite armed with a samurai sword. Most of it was interestingly weird, to the point that I was beginning to get excited about a new author’s take on the horror genre and was considering four starts, but in the end, three stars will have to do – and they are not very strong. After his short films, one can expect a queer theme from Kleiner, but in his feature début he’s running on fumes by the end, to the point that it feels he’s trying too hard. In Cowboy, the homosexual outburst was fairly convincingly portrayed, but here things become ridiculous after a certain point. The cop chooses the perfect moment for his coming out, or who else to confess to but a psychopath with a katana who has killed half my village.

As a documentary The Nightmare wasn’t very eloquent. We see several people telling us that they suffer from sleep paralysis (during which they experience terrifying visions) and that that is not at all pleasant. That’s all that can objectively be said about it. But the film gets quite a few points with the recreations of those terrifying visions. I put it on at midnight, alone in a dark room, lying on my bed, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t get the chills sometimes. Especially in a couple of scenes in the last half hour, where the documentarists suggest the rather unsettling thesis that sleep paralysis may be something else, like a peek into the realm of demons. That lead to a relatively restless sleep. 65%

This film is considered below average everywhere (right now it has 22% positive reviews in Rotten Tomatoes and only 8% satisfied viewers), but I surprisingly liked it. It is not great, surprising or original in any aspect, but it’s still nicely shot, it doesn’t rush and has a pleasant and melancholic mood. I won’t think again about it, but compared to other new horror movies, it’s certainly in the better half.

Terribly bad. The foreign responses told me that I could easily avoid it, but that living golden statue in the trailer convinced me to give it a chance – I mean, a horror movie with a murderous golden statue is not something you see every day. Unfortunately, Pernicious is a scary story of the kind I’ve seen a million times, with some moments that reach the level of parody (the visit of the old woman). A catastrophically bad film in every sense. Only those Thai locations look quite nice, but the creators don’t deserve credit for that.

I’m giving it a weak four stars with a clear conscience. It’s not a horror film that would make you pull at your hair in fear, cover your eyes or turn the lights on after watching it, but I appreciate the playful and fun way the vengeful spirit fucks with the Skypers, and, in particular, the original concept, how it’s maintained throughout the film and how convincingly it’s delivered. It’s not something entirely novel, films like The Den and Open Windows used a similar format, but the former switched to other cameras somewhere around the middle, and in the latter the laptop camera begins to disappear and in the end it goes God knows where, because the film completely breaks down conceptually. Unfriended is the first (as far as I know) film that strictly sticks to the concept. It feels realistic (not only technologically, but, surprisingly, also in the behaviour of the characters, including the performances of the actors) and also takes place in real time. For me, reason enough for an above average rating.

I’m not into anthologies very much in general, I don’t like the low level of conceptuality they usually have; they don’t deliver a coherent viewer experience. The three stories from German Angst should be linked to the German origin of their authors and the tags “sex, love, death”. They are completely different in their moods and styles, but the only I liked was Marschall’s, I think he’s a very talented horror director (unlike the other two gentlemen). His story is really the most interesting the lot (the other two are not worth talking about, I’ve already forgotten about them), but it’s still nothing to write home about. There are a couple nice hallucinogenic horror scenes, but that’s not enough for an entire story.

After five episodes: Wayward Pines would improve a lot with a more personal and film-like directorial hand. The mood and the visuals feel like a run-of-the-mill TV mystery series, which is a real shame because the things that take place there are quite interesting. The initial fear of a shallow bunch of mysteries that have no explanation and never will is beginning to prove mistaken. The fifth episode actually reveals the main part of the mystery (what Wayward Pines actually is). The concept is brilliant and, if it’s in the hands of smart people (referring to the author of the book), it’s got great potential. The aforementioned twist raises other questions (I would love see, in particular, a sensible explanation of why the people in the know behave towards the people out of the loop the way they do, and why they don’t tell them! That situation must be a lot more dangerous than a possible reveal of the truth), and I also want to see what the creators will come up with. The overall opinion about the series can change with every new episode, twist or piece of information, so I’m not really sure about my rating, it can be very good, and it can be worse. But I’ll keep on watching, it’s fun. After the end of the series (or 1st season): So I think it’s very good in the end. :) Halfway through the season the mystery became hardcore sci-fi addressing the basic aspect of human civilisation and society, the development and end of a totalitarian system, the birth and functioning of a resistance, the God complex, schools as a fundamental ideological apparatus, etc. We can argue about the logic of the behaviour of the “leadership”, but that would have to take place within a debate about the series as a whole (I don’t think your explanation is fully convincing) and not as a one-sided complaint (WTF?! That doesn’t make sense! You won’t even try to explain that?!). I’m pleased. Wayward Pines is a satisfying story that in 10 episodes achieves an unexpected lot. I also liked the relatively uncompromising ending, which can work as a cliffhanger for the second season, but also as a satisfying closure for a ten-episode series.