¡Qué horror! 2014

The Wrap-Up

So there we are.

Another October and another ¡Qué horror! rundown.
And the twelve months leading up to ¡Qué horror! 2015 have already begun…

But before we bring this year’s festivities to a close, I have to mention this:

TWIN PEAKS: THE MISSING PIECES

[Contained in TWIN PEAKS: THE ENTIRE MYSTERY]

(July 2014)

Since this isn’t a film or a television show episode (it’s a series of deleted and alternate scenes from Fire Walk With Me), this really couldn’t rightfully qualify as a Candidate.

Nevertheless, this deserves a ¡Qué horror! mention for a couple of scenes that, even if taken just as they are, and out of any sort of context, still pack a potent wallop on the unwary, regardless of whether you’ve seen Twin Peaks or not.

These brief snippets are more unnerving and unsettling than many of Hollywood’s recent feature length “horror” offerings.

A master of combining sight and sound and producing compact little audio-visual nightmares, David Lynch has secreted a number of bizarre little gems in “Missing Pieces,” including more of David Bowie’s Agent Phillip Jeffries.

If you’re a TP fan, then this is, as they say, a “must-see,” if only so you can be your own final arbiter on whether the inclusion of these scenes would have made any significant difference to Fire Walk With Me.

And if you’ve never seen TP or its feature film prequel, then get a taste of Lynch’s television masterpiece here.

(Nearly a quarter of a century after it premiered, it’s still at the top of my Best TV Shows Ever list. 24 years and change and no other show has managed to steal that crown…)

Plus, given the recent simultaneous tweets from David Lynch and Mark Frost (at 11:30 AM apparently, the same time Special Agent Dale Cooper entered the lovely town of Twin Peaks way back in the Pilot), this could serve as a brief taste of all the strange and wonderful things that may yet come…

Yes, please, could I have some more?

“I’ve always said, ‘I love a continuing story.’

“To love a world and be able to go deeper and deeper into that world.

“So, there’s always a possibility, and you just have to wait and see.”

--David Lynch, when asked about a possible continuation of Twin Peaks, September 2014

(Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery Blu-ray cover art courtesy of bluray.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[13 of 13]

THE POSSESSION OF MICHAEL KING

(August 2014)

This is the world we live in today*: the only real found footage films** that should merit attention are those that A) prove to be something unprecedented within the genre, pushing the envelope, or tearing right through it, or B) are noteworthy examples of the genre’s “traditional” form.

The Possession of Michael King (from director David Jung) falls squarely in the latter category. It doesn’t have any ambitions of showing us anything particularly new. But, while it does colour within the lines, the hues and shades are decidedly of a rather dark and sinister persuasion, as compared to the bland palettes of the hordes of average run-of-the-mill found footage films out there.

The titular Michael King (Shane Johnson) makes a New Year’s resolution: he’s going to make a documentary about his family, to show the world just how lucky and blessed he is as a human being (even if, as he so pointedly admits very early on in the film, he doesn’t believe in God).

But tragedy strikes, and the documentary instead becomes one where Michael sets out to prove once and for all whether the supernatural exists.

Unfortunately, his grief fuels his brazenness, and he unthinkingly calls out far more than he bargained for…

Again, though this is not a found footage game changer in any way, shape, or form, there’s still some disturbing imagery in this one, and a notable performance by Johnson.

(Though you have to wonder why characters in these kinds of movies never seem to listen during the supernatural infodump early in the running time; if they did, they’d realize everything that would come in horrifyingly short order is all outlined right there…)

* The fact is, we've been living in it for quite awhile now.

** Please note that this also goes for zombies on film, whether on the big screen or small...

(The Possession of Michael King OS courtesy of impawards.com)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[12 of 13]

HONEYMOON

(March 2014)

Rose Leslie (late of Game of Thrones and who was awesome as Young Milner in the opening flashback episode of Utopia’s second series) and Harry Treadaway (currently seen on Penny Dreadful) are newlyweds Bea and Paul, off to a cabin in the woods for the titular honeymoon.

And since Honeymoon is on this year's final ¡Qué horror! rundown, it’s safe to assume that things go terribly awry. (Of course, I’m hard-pressed to come up with a single film where anything that had to do with a “cabin in the woods” turned out sunshiny bright and peachy keen.)

I won’t go into the nature of Honeymoon’s threat, but suffice it to say that Leigh Janiak’s debut feature is a disturbing cinematic experience where love and identity and terror say their “I do’s” to produce an unholy union where the inability to make French toast or coffee become terrible omens of the madness to come…

(Honeymoon OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[11 of 13]

13 SINS

(March 2014) 

"... Great wealth is within your grasp. 36 hours from now, you can be a very rich man. All you have to do is complete 13 challenges.”

The last time Daniel Stamm was hanging ‘round these parts was for the ¡Qué horror! 2011 candidate, The Last Exorcism.

This time out, he barges into the Final 13 by helming the English language remake of Chukiat Sakveerakul’s 13 Game Sayawng, where a grotesque game show gradually turns its contestants into savage cutthroats, all for that next bit of green.

“I will dance with the Golden Toad.”

Not only is the action relocated to New Orleans, but the stakes are amped up considerably for the film’s protagonist, Elliot Brindle (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’s Mark Webber): he’s got a pregnant soon-to-be wife (True Blood’s Rutina Wesley) and mentally disabled brother (Devon Graye, who played teen-aged Dexter Morgan) who are depending on him.

And while there are certain elements from the original which have been excised (thankfully, the awkward tonal shifts and, less so, the active female supporting role), there are also welcome additions: among them, a deeper glimpse into the game’s backstory, and some familiar genre faces (Ron Perlman and Pruitt Taylor Vince).

Plus, George Coe (who currently voices Woodhouse on Archer) doing the “Game Voice.”

“So says the Golden Toad: ‘A brave arm makes a short sword long.’”

The changes from the original (which include the specifics of most of the game’s challenges) serve to tighten the narrative’s plot and thematics, and also serve to foreground the dark empowerment and paranoia that engulfs Elliot as he gets further along in the game.

Ultimately, 13 Sins is not only a more refined and polished version of 13 Game Sayawng, it’s also a harder-hitting and more emotionally potent piece.

“Try to think of this in the most positive, empowering way as a gun pointed to your head.”

Parting Shot: This could actually make an interesting double feature with Cheap Thrills...

(13 Sins OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[10 of 13]

HANNIBAL Season 2

(February 2014)

So, yeah, in a year that had some strong potential TV horror entries, no one could touch Hannibal.

True, Bryan Fuller’s exquisitely constructed mix tape adaptation of Thomas Harris’ serial killer novels was on its sophomore season, while most of the other TV horror contenders were freshman series, but hey, it managed to tie with Les Revenants for a ¡Qué horror! slot last year, and they were both freshmen shows back then…

As we inch ever closer to a third adaptation of Red Dragon and the tantalizing possibility of a television rendition of The Silence of the Lambs (with Agent Schmarice Schmarling, if MGM can’t be bothered to play nice), Fuller and company continue to stage the most elegantly audacious and horrific serial killer scenarios this side of American network television.

If you haven’t gotten a, ahem, taste of Hannibal, you really ought to…

Parting Shot: Yes, this is a TV series and not a "movie," but ever since Dead Set carved out a ¡Qué horror! slot for itself, television horror just refuses to stay dull and mediocre (as so many Hollywood horror titles turn out to be), so Hannibal gets a slot this year, just as it co-held a slot last year.

If it makes you feel better, just think of it as a multi-part movie...

(Hannibal OS’ courtesy of aintitcool.com and impawards.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[9 of 13]

COHERENCE

(September 2013)

"[Coherence] started with a test to see if I could shoot something without a crew and without a script.”
--James Ward Byrkit

Well, let me come right out and say that Mr. Byrkit and company aced this test.

The set-up’s simple: a group of friends get together for a dinner party, on the night that Miller’s Comet passes.

And what Byrkit and his cast manage to improv out of a limited budget, notecards, and short character descriptions is an exquisite Twilight Zone Chinese puzzle mindf*ck feature debut.

To say any more would be to say too much…

Seriously.

“We are visitors.”

--Em

(Coherence OS’ courtesy of impawards.com & kickassmovies.so.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[8 of 13]

PROXY

(September 2013)

Within the first seven minutes of Proxy, something horrendous happens to pregnant Esther Woodhouse (Alexia Rasmussen), triggering the sequence of horrible events that serves as the twisted spine for this unsettling narrative.

After giving us Scalene, with the always excellent Margo Martindale, producer/director Zack Parker (from a script co-written by Parker with Kevin Donner) serves up this sordid tale about the terrible, f*cked up things fundamentally damaged people do to each other.

Fair warning, there is nothing remotely “entertaining” about this kind of intensely disquieting psychological horror, the kind you’d never really see from Hollywood.

This is some tough stuff, and I’m not talking about guts and gore or your standard lunatic serial killer from Central Casting. Fake blood and rubber intestines and bug-eyed, drooling Looney Tunes are easy.

Getting under the skin by showing just how crazy apparently “regular” folk can be, now that takes some skill…

(Proxy OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[7 of 13]

ENEMY

(September 2013)

Based on José Saramago’s novel O Homem Duplicado (The Double), Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy is sly and subtle horror with a distinctly Cronenbergian air to it.
Here, Jake Gyllenhall plays History professor Adam Bell, who quite suddenly discovers he’s got an exact lookalike in actor Daniel Saint Claire (real, non-screen name, Anthony).

A fascinatingly oblique take on the doppelgänger idea, Enemy is a tale that’s more concerned with how the weird sh!t scenario impacts on the characters, rather than the whys and the mystery behind said weird sh!t scenario.

If you’re looking for clear cut answers without the slightest hint of ambiguity, then look elsewhere…

As he navigates the story’s unsettling and uncertain terrain with us, Gyllenhall is ably assisted onscreen by Mélanie Laurent (as Adam’s girlfriend Mary), Sarah Gadon (as Anthony’s pregnant wife Helen), and the radiantly awesome Isabella Rossellini (as Adam’s mother).

Given her presence in the senior’s Cosmopolis and A Dangerous Method and the junior’s Antiviral, Gadon’s presence only further enhances the Cronenberg echo here, while Rossellini adds just the faintest whiff of Lynch to the proceedings.

Certainly, this is horror that will not be to everyone’s taste, and that WTF ending will almost surely lose some people as well, but for my money, Enemy is a riveting narrative that is intent on exploring the inhabitants of a world with mysteries aplenty imbedded in its hidden architecture, a story that asks us to weave our own meanings out of the vague wisps and sinister tatters that are left to us as the end credits sequence begins.

Parting Shot: Nominated for 10 awards at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards (including Adapted Screenplay and Best Motion Picture), Enemy was ultimately honored with five: Achievement in Direction, Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Gadon), Achievement in Music – Original Score (Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans), Achievement in Cinematography (Nicolas Bolduc), and Achievement in Editing (Matthew Hannam).

It will be noted that Hannam is another Cronenberg connection, having also edited Antiviral.

It’s only fitting that David Cronenberg just also happened to be the recipient of a lifetime achievement award at the same Canadian Screen Awards night, where Villeneuve had this to say: "The thing that I admire the most about other filmmakers is when they are able to build their own world. And there's nobody like David Cronenberg."

(Enemy OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[6 of 13]

GEUNG SI
(RIGOR MORTIS)

(August 2013)

Juno Mak's feature debut is an impressive feat: it’s a phantasmagorical tour of Chinese superstition and religion that’s also a loving (and semi-meta) homage to the Jiangshi films of the ‘80’s.

And it pays this rather noteworthy tribute by stripping away the comedic wackiness of the original Jiangshi films and delivering an atmospheric tale of blood and shadows and death.

Co-produced by Ju-on mastermind, Shimizu Takashi, Geung Si manages to rope in even a non-Jiangshi film fan like myself (those who know me well know that the wacky schtick is so not my thing) with the aforementioned phantasmagoria and atmosphere and the straight-faced, straightforward approach to the narrative.

The fact that I was not a particular fan of Jiangshi also meant that the meta leanings of Geung Si pretty much flew right over my head, but even missing out on that aspect during my first viewing did not diminish my amazement at the film.

Playing out like a wild and creepy mash-up of Asian horror and wuxia, I highly recommend this, especially for those KADASIG readers who’ve ever wondered what a film adaptation would look like.

For my money, it would look something like Geung Si…

(Geung Si/Rigor Mortis OS’ and Character Poster courtesy of thedailyzombies.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[5 of 13]

L'ÉTRANGE COULEUR DES LARMES DE TON CORPS
(THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS)

(August 2013)

Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet take their particular brand of neo-giallo--as seen in past ¡Qué horror! candidate Amer--even further in the kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria of L’Étrange Couleur des Larmes de ton Corps.

What begins with the mysterious disappearance of a wife very quickly leads us into a dizzying realm where narrative all but breaks down, and dream logic overwhelms the proceedings; this is like an Argento giallo on a bad acid trip. It’s about eroticism, obsession, and quite unsurprisingly, death.

I imagine, if you enjoyed Amer, then chances are, you’ll enjoy L’Étrange Couleur… as well.

But if your test drive of Amer wasn’t quite to your liking (and I did say it was the sort of film that wasn’t for everyone), then I’d avoid getting behind the wheel of this one too…

(L’Étrange Couleur des Larmes de ton Corps OS courtesy of grignoux.be.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best Horror Movies I've Seen in the Past Year

[4 of 13]

THE PURGE

(May 2013)

America. 2022.

Unemployment is at 1%.
Crime is at an all-time low.

Violence barely exists.

With one exception…

That exception is The Annual Purge, a 12-hour orgy of chaos and destruction sanctioned by the U.S Government, during which “… any and all crime, including murder, [is] legal.”

The thinking here is, if you can just keep all that rage and all those violent tendencies bottled up inside yourself for 364 days, then you’ll have the Purge in which to vent all of it without any legal repercussions whatsoever.

Hate your boss? That bullying head cheerleader? Your wife who cheated on you with your best friend? The barber who gave you that sadass haircut?

There’s always the Purge…

Brought to us by James DeMonaco (who co-wrote Skinwalkers, of which I must admit, I was not a fan), The Purge is a hard-hitting, tense little exercise in cautionary horror that manages to give one pause to consider the nature of violence and the costs of a “stable” form of governance.

99 out of every 100 people may have a job, but this is a world where doing the right thing just makes you an idiot who brings down grief on the heads of those you care about, as well as your own, a world where anyone killed during the Purge is considered a “sacrifice to make [America] a safer place.”

Of ¡Qué horror! note: Rhys Wakefield, as the “Polite Leader,” plays an even bigger douchebag here than he did in last year’s ¡Qué horror! title, +1.

Lena Headey (familiar to ¡Qué horror! territory due to The Brøken) is also in this one, though sadly, she does not get to deploy any of her Many Bitch Faces of Cersei Lannister here. And as we all know, she’s a bloody expert at those…

Ah, well.

Can’t win ‘em all…

“Blessed be the New Founding Fathers for letting us Purge and cleanse our souls, Blessed be America, a nation reborn.”

Parting Shot: Reviews of The Brøken and +1 can be found lurking in the Archives.

(The Purge OS’ courtesy of impawards.com)