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Posted on January 15, 2016

The Forest (2016) Review

Gwen

95 min | 2016 | (USA) | Jason Zada

Grade: B-

Synopsis: A young American woman named Sara Price (Dormer) travels to Japan’s Suicide Forest (Aokigahara) in search of her missing twin who has a troubled past.

Review: Slow, building horror with a cerebral bend.

If you are looking for jump scares, tons of special FX, or gore, this movie is not for you. If I had to categorize it, I would call it more of a suspenseful thriller. The Forest is like the burn in your muscles the day after a good run. While watching The Forest, it is at times difficult to tell the difference between what is real and imagined. The film’s dream-like quality leaves you as disoriented as the characters that attempt to navigate the labyrinth inside the Aokigahara Forest.

Be prepared, the Aokigahara doesn’t actually play as large of a role in the film as you might think. I won’t give away any spoilers but if you are going to enjoy this film, you have to go in with an open mind. Upon viewing trailers, one might think the whole film is about the horrors that lurk within this specific forest…not so much. The Suicide Forest is a conduit for the larger portion of the film to unfurl. In fact, I would suggest that the nebulous forest is just a means for Sara and her twin, Jess (also played by Dormer) to work out their equally ill-defined inner demons.

Posted on November 27, 2015

Slow Violence, Environmentalism, and The Walking Dead

Dawn Keetley

There is much to say about The Walking Dead and many people saying it, so I feel there’s room before the upcoming mid-season finale of season 6 to write about something a little bit off the beaten track.

Especially since the beginning of season 6, I’ve been thinking that among the many things the zombies of The Walking Dead connote is the slow lurch of catastrophic environmental damage.

My theory is, no doubt, in large part due to the fact that I’ve been reading Rob Nixon’s excellent 2011 book, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Nixon coins the term “slow violence” to describe long-term ecological devastation, “a violence that occurs gradually,” a “violence of delayed destruction that is dispersed across time and space, an attritional violence that is typically not viewed as violence at all.” Nixon argues that while sudden cataclysmic environmental disasters (typhoons etc.) are easy to narrativize, it’s harder to tell stories about often almost-imperceptible “slow violence.”[i] I would suggest that one place to look for such stories is the zombie narrative—because, for me at least, the term “slow violence” also inevitably conjures up zombies (the slow kind, anyway!).

Season 6 has offered the repeated shot of Daryl (Norman Reedus) on his motorcycle, cresting the hill of a rural road with a horde of walkers looming behind him, as he tries to lead them away from the community of Alexandria. This image suggests the way in which the consequences of a reckless use and misuse of our planet follows slowly but inexorably behind us.

Posted on August 18, 2015

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) Review

Elizabeth Erwin

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | 98 min | 1986 | John McNaughton | X[i]

Synopsis: Henry is an unrepentant serial killer who forms a murderous bond with another man.

Review: Michael Rooker’s chilling tour de force performance is perhaps the greatest serial killer characterization ever committed to film.

Grade: A

Viewing Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is not for the faint of heart. Stark and unyielding, the film is a deeply unsettling look into the mind of an unrepentant murderer. The film centers on pathological murderer Henry, who discovers a kindred spirit in his roommate, Otis. The two engage in vicious murders as Henry schools Otis on the finer points of evading capture. Their relationship is tested when Otis’ sister Becky comes to visit and becomes enamored of Henry. Based on the life of Henry Lee Lucas, the film is both a psychological exploration as well as an explicit foray into gore.

Posted on July 18, 2015

Top Ten Horror Film Hotties – Female Edition

Gwen

This motley crew has the horror trifecta of beauty, power, and resilience. These villainesses and final females used their brains, their gaze, and some pretty amazing one-liners to thwart the enemy and hold audiences captive. While they are all aesthetically pleasing, their beauty is enhanced by their character’s persona. You won’t find these women in the horror trope category because they always fight back and they certainly persevere both on the screen and in our minds.

Posted on June 9, 2015

Insidious 3 Film Review: Darkness, Depression & Disease

Gwen

Review: Insidious 3 sheds light on darkness, depression, and disease.

Synopsis: A prequel to the series, this installment provides insight into Elise Rainier and the use of her abilities to help others. She teaches the audience about her talent and about The Further. When you call upon one person they all hear you…and when you go into the darkness, things come back with you.

Like the recent film, Unfriended, Insidious 3 places suicide as a main actor in the film.[i] In Unfriended the actions of others lead to the darkness that befell Laura Barnes which later justified the haunting of her assailants. However, Insidious 3 delves deeper into the psyche by exposing the levels of despair like Dante’s nine circles of hell. Insidious 3 illuminates depression, despair and despondency, and then sprinkles it with the uniquely horrific experience of losing a life to suicide or through disease. Both of these are often inexplicable ends which leave the living with unanswered questions that might push them to stick their head down the rabbit hole of depression. Each of the characters is touched by tragedy, sickness, and suicide. How they cope with such tragedy determines if they become a victim of the darkness.