Lovely Molly and a Very Scary Coincidence..?

7 of 8 viewers "Liked" "Lovely Molly" (USA, 2011)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

The Impostor - ""Lovely Molly" is a creepy old fashioned horror film. Builds mystery nicely yet still spooky and scary, a must watch." - 4 Stars

Lord Battle - "A modern "Repulsion", mixed with even darker themes." - 4 1/2 Stars

Huntress - "A beautifully shot, perfectly paced descent into isolation; this movie worked in a nice touch of found footage." - 5 Stars

The Berkeley Blazer - "An ideal horror film should, at least for it's duration, make you believe in the eldritch, dread agency of the darkness. Most films fail at this endeavor. This does not." - 4 Stars

Math Mage - "Is she mad, haunted or just high on drugs? I don't care." - 2 Stars

Bug - "There was so many great moments in this movie, I really enjoyed it!" - 3 1/2 Stars

Ice Giant - "Really shows how messed up and dark the human mind can be." - 4 Stars

The Great Hornito - "A truly haunting film. I didn't know if this was a decent into madness or a haunting. I love this kind of genre film." - 4 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

While screening very tense films I've started to notice that people get extra quiet, as if scared to make a sound, like it would draw the attention from the characters in the film. This may seem commonplace but some viewers (reviewers) seem impervious, like no film is sacred and all tension shall be defused by lame comments, but not "Lovely Molly". I'll admit it wasn't completely silent and we even ended up pausing it 3 times (I really hate stopping a film) but Molly's "descent into isolation" (perfectly worded by Huntress) is so captivating that it easily survived being paused and almost completely muted chatty reviewers.

I honestly can't think of a better way to complement a film then to express it's command over an audience (another film so suspenseful it commanded a chatty crowd is "The Marked Ones").

The main themes in this film are pretty obvious and even though I'd love to discus the idea behind the horse motif, I think that's better suited for Facebook or the comments section but I do have something interesting to say...

We have to go back a year to October 10th, the day this film came into my life (I remember the date because the film takes place around the same time October). The Great Hornito, Huntress, and I were narrowing down which stupid horror film we should watch on Netflix when Huntress and I noticed Johnny Lewis's name among the cast of "Lovely Molly". This stood out to us because we are fans of Sons of Anarchy and Johnny Lewis plays a character named Half Sack.

Who cares, right? Well to skip ahead we loved the film and were totally caught of guard by how awesome it was, especially considering we put it on for laughs. Skip to the next day and we reach the point of this story.

The Great Hornito loving the film as he did went online that night and looked up the actor that lead us to the film. I couldn't believe what he found.

"Johnny Lewis dead at 28: Sons of Anarchy actor killed elderly landlady and dismembered her cat before plummeting off roof, sources say."

That's the headline of the Nydailynews article that elaborates on this terrifying story.

 The facts about what Johnny Lewis did are horrifying and totally crazy and seems to fit all to well with this films story. Especially because no one knows why he did any of this and really it could have been any number of things. The article says they think it was a new drug he took (in the vein of Bath Salts) that caused his strange behavior but this later article from Dailymail says his postmortem tests were negative. Then there's the whole thing about his dad being a high up in Scientology, a group a lot of people refer to  as a cult and yet another link to the film?

I'd continue with this connection but I'm starting to feel it's in bad taste, so let me finish by saying I was incredibly creeped out when looking up these articles just now. As last year I didn't notice something, I'll highlight it for you.

Not once in the article do they mention "Lovely Molly" but they happen to head the post with this photo. I feel it necessary to say that I love the pin he is wearing and would love one for my jacket but the fact that the symbol appears in one of his last photos deeply creeps me out. If the symbol wasn't all over the Blu Ray menu and cover I may have missed this again but now that I've noticed it I just had to share.

On a lighter note...

The trailer above is one of the best I've ever linked, it shows enough but doesn't give anything away. It just goes to show I should put some effort into looking for good trailers since apparently some exist.

-Lord Battle

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

The Break is Over

With this stack of assorted films I officially end my holiday absence and will return to the blog daily. The Facebook page has still been active and I highly recommend you checkout the post about "Evil's City", the movie may be bad but the drinking game is deadly. Also my instagram has been active but that's turned into me just taking pictures of stuff I've framed...

Okay so now that all media has been plugged, I'm heading out to frame some stuff I got from Electric Zombie and then I'm showing films all day. Expect a review tonight.

Top 50 Scariest Public Service Announcements

I wasn't planning on posting anything today but I came across this randomly while watching videos in the theatre. The top 50 scariest public service announcements sounds boring but trust me on  this one it's worth sitting through the 40min run time. Another impressive thing about this list is how well it's numbered, sure some videos don't feel like they belong but over all you can feel the PSA's getting darker. So Merry Christmas, here's my present to you!

Shitmas Fest: 25 Days of Shitmas

To celebrate the holiday right, we've recently screened and reviewed "Santa's Slay" for the 25 Days of Shitmas. It's a pretty cool event with lots of big horror writers participating. Check that out here.

Crash and Burn, Not Such a Giant Robot Flick

2 of 5 viewers "Liked" "Crash and Burn" (1990, USA)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

The Great Hornito - "The ending was great but most of the movie was boring." - 2 Stars

Dungeon Master - "Not Excellent but still fun to watch, Sci-Fi horror possibly set in the "Robot Jox" world(?), watch to fuel post-apoc. fantasies." - 3 Stars

Math Mage - "Incredibly detailed, well presented background used to inform a version of "10 little Indians"." - 2 Stars

Lord Battle - "I'm not a huge fan of post-apocalyptic films set in the desert but I really enjoyed the slasher elements." - 3 Stars

Huntress - Fell Asleep - Default 2 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

This is a pretty old review from back when I saw "Pacific Rim" and had a big robot themed marathon in it's honor. For the most part this Full Moon flick suffers from a lack of budget and an idea that ultimately cost to much. Viewing this film in the 90's was mostly just waiting for a giant robot to appear, at least for my generation.

- Spoiler -

The robot featured on the cover of this film is not only broken in the film but only appears in the ending for like 3 minutes. Another odd decision was casting Bill Moseley as a surprise slasher... Who didn't see this coming? I didn't even know this would turn out to be a slasher but the moment I saw Chop-Top I knew someone would be murdered.

For the most part Dungeon Master nailed it by saying this film is pretty good at setting a Sci-Fi horror mood but other than that it really only offers a couple of laughs centered around a shotgun and 3 minutes of a robot. Definitely deserving of it's 2 stars.

- Lord Battle

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Only God Forgives and My Understanding of it

6 of 8 viewers "Liked" "Only God Forgives" (2013, Denmark/France)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Johnny Ocelot - "You want scenery, check. You want violence, check. You want Ryan Gosling as an introverted badass, again check. The man that gave you "Drive" grants you another offering of blood soaked revenge in seedy underground Asia. Oh and Muay Thai fans can be excited by the choreography." - 4 Stars

Lord Battle - "Even love seems unfamiliar in this journey through a surreal neon nightmare." - 4 Stars

Book Wyrm - "The mise en scene for this movie was exceptional. The enrapturing scenery gave me a light in this movies eternal darkness. Story wise? I couldn't tell you about that." - 2 Stars

Huntress - "My first impression was that I didn't like this movie because it was too fragmented and abstract. But thinking back, all the questions I had were answered in due time and through some very inventive scenes. This movie would definitely benefit from a rewatch." - 3 Stars

Ice Giant - "I enjoyed this movie but a one time viewing was enough, It seemed to have everything I'd love in a movie but it went down pretentious alley one too many times for me to consider it a classic." - 3 1/2 Stars

Math Mage - "There are three movies here that collided (Psychic cop battle/Creepy incest mafia/Brutal torture pron)." - 3 Stars

The Great Hornito - "I really enjoyed this movie. The pacing was slow but the visual beauty kept the film interesting. The characters and the acting made the movie watchable despite the lack of story and lack of suspense. Overall I thought this film was a very good watch." - 4 Stars

Drumachine - Fell Asleep/Left - Default 2 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

Most people watched this film expecting a Drive 2 and were caught totally off guard. But really it is kinda implied, I mean Gosling and Refn are taking on neon neo noir again... That is still no excuse for the backlash this film suffered, especially when you find out this is an homage to Alejandro Jodorowsky (king of violent surrealism, among other awesome things). So instead of crying about people not giving the film a chance because it's not what they wanted it to be, I'm gonna take a shot at what this film is about.

- Spoiler -

I'm going to start with what I know, this film is an homage to Jodorowsky. This tells me to expect provocative (if not outright offensive) surrealism and heavy (yet hidden) themes of religion and spiritualism. But before I get into that though, I need to point out that Julian (Ryan Gosling) was molested by his parents. This is most strongly supported by the extremely uncomfortable contact between him and his mother and the fact that she knows how big her sons' *ahem* members are. Another couple of hints could be his brother seeking an underage partner and the unexplained reason Julian's mother had him kill his father (being obviously abusive towards his family). This sets up the theme of innocence (which I feel lame even mentioning as most people who don't understand film theory say every film is about, well more of a "loss of innocence").

Innocence is the driving force of this film, as children are coveted. Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm) gives a father a chance to avenge having his daughter's innocence being stolen from her, more so than her murder. Chang also tells children to cover their eyes as he tortures a man. Julian also chooses to spare Chang's daughter. 

Julian himself is a lost child in the body of an adult as he too had his innocence stolen at a young age. He constantly struggles with how he is expected to act and how he feels he should act, like when he spared the man who killed his brother (his brother also represented his father as his mother respected him much more, demonstrated when his mom went as far as to belittle his manhood in front of his love). Julian let him go because although the man took his brothers life, his brother was evil and deserving. This of course was Julian's personal justification, no one else would understand.

We don't see the extent of Julian's delusion until we see Mai (Yayaying Rhatha Phongam) for the first time. Mai is a prostitute that Julian is obviously in love with, just that he has no idea how to convey his emotions to her. Julian ends up with a hand fetish (most likely due to the abuse he suffered in his youth) and pays to be tied to a chair and watch her touch herself. This fetish becomes a metaphor for love, which we see as he lovingly puts his hand into his mothers open wound (this is not a pun, get your mind out of the gutter). Hands representing love also explain why he thought the man that murdered his brother had suffered enough, after he lost his arm. This also drums up the image of praying hands, which I'm sure Jodorowsky would want.

Lastly, (as this is getting kinda lengthy) the Math Mage added that Chang is a paladin and his sword is his holy avenger. This would explain why only certain people were worthy of a sword death, being the sword could only harm evil people worthy of its justice.

All in all, films that favor a visual narrative are more open to interpretation, so learn to have fun with it and look for clues as to what might actually be going on. If I ever get around to it, I'll post my thoughts on "The Lords of Salem" and show you how I think Rob Zombie made a cooler movie than even he knew.

The crazy poster above was found here impawards by Randy Ortiz, awesome work.

- Lord Battle

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

American Mary and a Third Act Explanation

6 of 7 viewers "Liked" "American Mary" (2012, Canada)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Math Mage - "A mad scientist film for the modern age." - 4 1/2 Stars

Book Wyrm - "I really like this movie but it also made me want to throw up." - 4 Stars

Huntress - "Leaps and bounds better than the twins' first movie. What it lacks in parts of the plot, it makes up for with cool sets and aesthetically pleasing shots." - 4 Stars

Lord Battle - "The Soska twins team up to create a stylish and modern mad scientist flick that showcases horrors newest queen, Katharine Isabelle." - 4 1/2 Stars

The Impostor - "One of the most original horror movies of the year. "American Mary" is daring, dark and entertaining. I'm excited to see what the Twisted Twins come up with next." - 4 Stars

The Great Hornito - Spoiler - "I really liked the first 30 minutes or so of the movie. The Soska twins have great ideas but I just thought the movie lagged a lot. I didn't like the Mary character either. I was actually happy when she was killed in the end." - 2 1/2 Stars

Ice Giant - "The Soska twins' shitty German accents took a star away but I loved everything else which surprised me because of how much I hated "Dead Hooker in a Trunk"." - 4 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

I had to swear that this movie was better than "Dead Hooker in a Trunk" before anyone would agree to watching it. I don't think that's unreasonable either and you'll understand if you've seen the Twins' first film. Love or hate Dead Hooker, American Mary is at least worth a once over.

The Soska Twins undeniably have an eye for horror. American Mary is a stylish character driven story about a woman paving her own way in a mans world. I myself found the Twins' "I am woman, hear me roar" attitude to be less than entertaining in Dead Hooker but in American Mary it's clever and well disguised. Mary suturing a turkey in her kitchen makes the visual statement that she can "play" doctor as long as she stays in the kitchen (where women belong) versus Dead Hookers portrayal of males as gullible sex-crazed assholes (i.e. cops, inn keeper, main villain), who all made ludicrous decisions in hopes of sex. And no I'm not looking into something that isn't there. The Turkey statement is no mistake as when she moves the only boxes we see are marked "kitchen" but yet her new place has no kitchen (another awesome visual statement). And the main villain in Dead Hooker was motivated by a "forked dick"...

The one thing that kept me from loving "American Mary" and giving it a 5th star was it's third act. I along with many others felt that the ending was very lacking. I honestly thought they had overrun a deadline and had to rush a conclusion, it really felt that strange to me. It wasn't until viewing the film with the Math Mage that I had heard a good defense for it's uncharacteristic ending.

- Spoiler -

My issue with the third act starts when she finishes killing the cop, that scene is followed by 2 or 3 scenes in the bar and then her untimely murder. It honestly felt like they had run out of ideas, given the first 2 acts felt like a roller-coaster called the modern mad scientist. A roller-coaster so fun that when you exit you talk about getting right back on but then find there is a long line to get back to the park... What I'm saying is the rest of the movie is a breath of fresh air and a lot fun and the ending dragggggggsssssss.

Math Mage made this argument, he said the film is all about this woman's rise to fame among the community she becomes master of, so when she peaks (operating on the Twins') she naturally will become complacent, thus resulting in the lacking 3rd act. 

I really like this explanation, I think the 2 or 3 bar scenes I whined about earlier even back this idea. I mean 1 scene is her analyzing her career and second guessing her life choices and the other is her becoming jealous of a man who has been chasing her forever, she just had too much going on to care, and of course she does once he is with another woman.

The one thing about Math Mage's theory that keeps me from changing my rating to a 5 and stopping at 4 1/2 is the fact that it feels more like an interpretation of a bad ending than a planned thing.

The awesome poster art used above comes from Matthew Therrien check out his Tumblr here.

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.