¡Qué horror! 2013

The Wrap-Up (Addendum)

And, on the tail end, a couple of titles that I got to see past the ¡Qué horror! cutoff date of September 30, 2013… 

I’ve been with Whitechapel since Series 1 (to use Brit TVspeak), and while they’ve managed to Scooby-Doo any possibly supernatural goings-on in the past, Series 4 sees the show apparently going whole hog supernatural, with the sinister “Louise Iver” (Falling Angel/Angel Heart’s Louis Cyphre not enough for you, eh?) suggested as the Big Bad, who’s (supposedly) been orchestrating all the show’s murderous shenanigans since the get-go.

I have no idea if this has been the Game Plan from the very start, and for all I know, they could attempt to convolutedly Scooby-Doo all this away in Series 5 anyway… As Steve Pemberton’s Ed Buchan says, despite mounting evidence to the contrary: “She’s not immortal! She’s not the Devil! She’s just a very nasty old lady.”

Still, whatever the possibility of a fifth series may hold (and whatever you may think of this narrative development), the tone and atmosphere of the six episodes of Series 4 is commendable and a lot more effective than any number of recent lackluster horror titles. (Plus, Pemberton wrote a pair of them, so “Hurrah!”)

As for another non-horror title (it truly bugs me that Variety describes it as a “dramedy”; ugh, I hate that word), I present Matt Johnson’s The Dirties, about a pair of aspiring filmmakers incessantly bullied in high school, and what they do in reaction.

Kevin Smith (who’s helped its release through his Kevin Smith Movie Club) has gone on the record by saying it’s “The most important movie you will see all year.”

Now, whatever your personal opinion on Smith is, The Dirties is undeniably a powerful look at the dangers of bullying and how personalities can be warped by simply soaking up media content without understanding what it all actually means.

It’s a fascinating tale presented as a faux doc, with a killer last shot, and a killer end credits sequence (by Josh Schonblum), which also took home the Grand Jury Award for Feature Narrative and the Spirit of Slamdance Award from this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.

And if it hasn’t become fairly obvious from the onesheets, this one takes on school violence head on… Fair warning.

With that, we’re all wrapped up on the 2013 edition of ¡Qué horror!

Once again, have a Happy Halloween!

(Whitechapel Series 4 DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.co.uk; The Dirties OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

MURDER PARTY
(Review)

It’s Halloween, and Christopher S. Hawley (Chris Sharp) is all set for a night of horror DVDs, but Sir Lancelot (an incredible Puff Snooty) plays chair hog and refuses to budge. So our hapless hero decides to Project Runway himself a costume and show up at a “Murder Party,” an invitation to which he found out on the street.
Thus begins the largely amusing events of Jeremy Saulnier’s Murder Party.

As an exercise in low-budget horror, Murder Party hits more often than it misses, with particular strengths being its unpredictability, and aim to confound audience expectations.
Of course, the reality of a film that makes it a point to surprise is the distinct possibility that the viewer may not necessarily be crazy about the directions the narrative takes. (The “truth” sequence is one that I’m still half-half on.)

All in all though, Murder Party is an agreeable little film that hits most of its marks, and does manage to have some thrills and some laughs and take some shots at the Williamsburg art scene.
Hardcore horror geeks may find Murder Party’s gore quotient a little on the low side. They may also find it a tad too talky. But if you’ve been ‘round these parts before, you’ll know I like my horror in a broad range, and Murder Party, though perhaps uneven, is nonetheless an entertaining way to spend an hour and 20 minutes.

Parting shot: Murder Party nabbed the Best Narrative Feature Audience Award at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival, as well as the Best Feature Film at the Vail Film Festival.

Parting shot 2: For the perversely curious, Murder Party is the first title under the Magnet Films banner, a subsidiary of Magnolia Pictures for “wild, unquantifiable and uncompromised” films. Magnolia Pictures is owned by American billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, who was recently booted off Dancing with the Stars.
Upcoming films under Magnet include Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Dainipponjin (Big Man Japan), Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate (starring Asia Argento), and Tony Stone’s “heavy metal Viking epic,” Severed Ways.

(Murder Party OS courtesy of impawards.com; image courtesy of radaronline.com.)