Month: April 2014

HERE COMES THE DEVIL ‘Ah Hi Va el Diablo’ (2012)

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In the tradition of Hammer, Grand Guignol and the master of Italian horror Dario Argento,comes this Spanish tale of a family ripped apart by a strange encounter with a hill.

Mood and soundscape is the key to the horror here; the use of sound to provoke fear in the audience is very effective. This is eerie at its best. There are plenty of quick zoom shots that at first seem a little kitsch and outdated but after a while add to the unsettling nature of the story. There is one scene with an excessive use of stage blood (Argento homage) but otherwise this is predominantly an exercise in atmosfear.

A mother and father allow their kids to go up a hill while they stay in the car and what happens next is not for the faint of heart.
The mother and father jump to a conclusion and are consumed by the need for revenge.
Revenge is the best medicine if your preferred medicine of choice is poison.
It’ll get you in the end.
If the stories have taught us anything it’s that it’ll eat you up and you will equally be punished.

Here Come the Devil plays on your fears as the devil is wont to do and takes you on a journey you’re unlikely to forget.

The last shot is so disturbing in its ordinariness.
Evil takes its roots where it can, amongst the weak and easily influenced.

A truly unsettling film.

3.5/5

BUY THE BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

DESPICABLE ME (2010)

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This average cartoon comedy has a few upsides to it but ultimately is not going to change your life.

I ended up watching this as many, many people had told me it was worth a look. I disagree.
Even if you are a child and will probably be entertained by this it isn’t doing anything new or innovative, it’s not even really telling an old story well.

There were very few laughs in it and that’s an indicator of something amiss in a cartoon film ostensibly aimed at kids but the marketing department clearly aimed to grab a piece of the Pixar market. The reason Pixar has done so well for so long is mainly their scripts, filled with humanity, whip-smart humour, pathos and character. Here, not so much.

Everybody does their jobs well in the voice dept and the animation is a-iight but average it is and average it will stay as long as the script isn’t up to the job in hand.
When you compare it to Wreck-It-Ralph as far as jokes/character/story etc it is way behind in quality.

I love a well told story, I don’t care what genre it is, as genre is only really there for the marketing departments and has little to do with one’s actual enjoyment of the film, so cartoon, horror, romance, war, blah, blah, blah.
It means little to me.
So I will see at a lot of different types of film from all over the world like a cinema archaeologist rummaging around in the emporium of film to hopefully discover the next exciting story. I’m not a hater. If something is not up to scratch, I will say something.

There I’ve said it; Despicable Me is really not that good. Sorry.

2.5/5

BUY IT ON BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE