J*A*S*M

(49th KVIFF) If, after a certain turning point, the script didn’t rely so much on chance (unlikely encounters of the follower and the followed), I wouldn’t have a problem giving it a higher rating. It’s a beautifully shot (mostly) thriller with superb performances. At first it isn’t entirely clear what it is about, but after twenty or thirty minutes it turns into a surprisingly tense chase through a town and its surroundings. The behaviour of certain characters may seem almost senseless to some viewers here, but I believe that Pakistani immigrants have a fairly different mentality than the average Western European, so I didn’t have any problem with it. Oh! And in some parts it’s really rough :) Pleasant surprise.

(49th KVIFF) I’m very happy after the screening at KVIFF. Seeing a good horror movie on a big screen, in a theatre full of people who, considering the circumnstances (the late hour and the booze), behaved well and weren’t a nuisance is not something you see very often. Objectively, I could complain about it being somewhat repetitive, most of the film consists of either how they try to catch the scary spirit or of how they go from one place to another, but these complaints are very well compensated by a premise that is original and entertaining for the genre, the likeable characters (finally, teenage protagonists in a horror movie that aren’t dull chess pieces, but nice young people, and you don’t want anything bad happening to them) and how effective it is overall – the opening sequence already gave me chills, and that feeling repeated itself during the entire 100 minute run. But what’s most valuable is that most of those scenes take place during the day. The climax at the swimming pool and the scene on the beach are some of the moments I will remember at the end of this film year. I was expecting something dirtier given the theme, and more sexually explicit, but It Follows is very lame in this aspect. As the producer said, in some sense it is actually a “pretty” film – the sun shines, the music is nice and the characters love each other. Only that they are followed by a horrifying spirit.

(49th KVIFF) It’s cringe to the point that I almost wanted to leave (or fall asleep). But, after a certain moment, Norway (why Norway? It could have been called “Dancing wanker goes somewhere” and it would have been more apt) becomes stupid in such a WTF way that I actually had fun. In any case, the weakest film of the festival so far.

Nice zombie massacre comedy. Unlike the first episode, there are lots of brutally funny scenes, like the heart massage at the beginning, it was hilarious. I’m not a big fan of this type of comedy splatter-fests, but I had fun with this one. Overall, between 3 and 4 stars, but the closing sequence with “A Total Eclipse of the Heart” was the deciding factor for the higher rating. This film has cult potential, I’ve already watched several more times.

For an artistically mature film like this, three stars are probably unfair, but if I rated it higher, I’d be lying to myself. The atmosphere is hypnotic and intoxicating, the soundtrack is fantastic and I would love to make posters of individual frames and hang them on the wall… but the endless ride on a van while looking at nothing gets boring after some time.

The creators came up with a potentially cult horror character, made it widely known with prank videos that reached people who under normal circumnstances would have never heard about this low-budget, almost amateur thing… and they made it with an almost psychopathic artistry that may captivate some people with some scenes, but that will satisfy hardly anyone as a whole. The film has nice locations, nicely scary scenes with Owlman and an original style, but also a lot of filler and things that are stretched unbearably long, not to mention that very often the performances (and the camera and the editing) are too amateurish for something that is 100 minutes long. As a result, Lord of Tears is interesting rather than good. But I won’t slag the creators, they do have potential.

Such a normal family. That 11 year old girl didn’t jump from a window during her birthday party just because, or after The Serbian Film and Dog Tooth, another proof that people aren’t quite alright in the Balkans.

Nightmare on Elm Street + One Missed Call + Inception. An atmospheric horror story that for Western audiences can be strange, both in the behaviour of the characters and in the way it blends imagination and reality.

The director of the awful sequel to 30 Days of Night has done a pretty good job, something I wasn’t expecting from him. Excellent proof that you shouldn’t immediately dismiss anyone. Beneath is a text-book example of survival horror, i.e. a film where a group of characters (as it’s typical, in an attractive natural setting like mountains or caves) fight for their lives, both against the external circumnstances or various villains, and against each other. Survival is a pretty gratifying sub-genre, when it’s well made it can deliver tension basically from beginning to end, and Beneath is well made. The setting of a caved-in coal mine feels dirty and claustrophobic, and when you remember news from different parts of the world about similar accidents, the plot feels quite credible. The execution is almost perfect and the actors are decent, but the script could have got a bit more attention: when the characters begin to hallucinate, the situation becomes quite unclear and now I can’t remember exactly what was the fate of each of the miners. It could also have gone a little deeper psychologically, there was potential for that. It would also have helped if the film was a purely masculine affair, like Carpenter’s The Thing, because focusing on the one female protagonist that by a screenwriting accident finds herself in the mine makes things a little predictable. And even though the story takes place in a spooky underground and the characters suffer from spooky images, rather than only scaring, the film holds the tension… which is somehow part of survival stories. But in spite of these quibbles, Beneath turned out to be an unexpectedly excellent survival movie, perhaps the best of its kind since The Decent. 8/10

At its most basic, Transcendence is not as stupid as some people who in their joy at having discovered a couple of holes in the logic have claimed. At its core, it’s a pretty decent sci-fi premise that greatly suffers from the behaviour of the main characters, which at times feels really weird and stupid. The actors are good, the technical aspect is fine, too, but I have a problem with its hysterical technophobic tone. Yet, in spite of all the issues (mostly in the script) that Transcendence has, it is still a pretty watchable movie. But somewhere deep inside there is potential for a lot more, that much is clear.