Neewalloh Film Fest (Week One)

In keeping with my tradition of ripping-off other blogs or websites, I am going to celebrate the month of October and it's month ending holiday Halloween by trying to watch a horror movie every single day of the month. This is exactly what http://www.aintitcool.com contributor Qunit has been doing since June and he's changed his format for this month to watch Horror movies exclusively. And like Quint I am going to try and watch movies that haven't seen before or at least films that I haven't watched in a very long time. I'm already 7 days into the month so I'll try to update by the week or at least every few days.

October 1st – One Missed Call (2008)
Another American remake of a techno-paranoia thriller from Japan this film stars Shannon Sossamon and Ed Burns trying to track down the cause of serial killings that have been afflicting their friends and family members. All of the killings have been foreshadowed by the victim receiving a phone call from themselves, all of which are from a future date and time and with a message leaving clues to the victims impending death. The premise is rather hokey, even by Japanese horror film remakes and this Americanized version plays very straight and dull. The death sequences are flat and they are not able to squeeze out even an ounce of suspense. I fell asleep during the climax of the film, only to awake and catch the ridiculous ending. I would "miss" this film as much as I would want to miss a phone call foretelling my own death.

October 2nd – The Invisible (2007)
A supernatural thriller from David Goyer who penned the Blade franchise as well as Batman Begins is also a remake of a Swedish film about a smart and successful young man, Nick Powell, who is about to graduate high school when gets attacked and beaten very badly by a female classmate of his and her juvenile delinquent friends. Nick awakens as an invisible being unable to speak or communicate with the world around him. Initially Nick believes he is a ghost and that he has died but later comes to realize that he is still alive and tries desperately to help the authorities find his body before it's too late. Unfortunately Nick doesn't come off as a very interesting character that you are rooting for him to survive. There is some good stuff with a subplot involving Annie, the classmate who initiated the attack on Nick, but it's not quite enough to elevate this from being a little too mopey and schmaltzy.

October 3rd – Fingerprints (2006)
Probably only notable for being the feature film debut of ex-Laguna Beach star Kristin Cavallari, which isn't saying much. The premise is about a family who has moved to a small Texas town after the patriarch has taken on a major construction job dealing with the town's railroad line. One of the family's daughters has just been released from rehab and as soon as she gets into the town learns of a horrible tragedy that occurred 50 years before when a school bus full of children were killed as their bus was hit by a train while crossing the railroad tracks. There is now an legend that has been created around the incident where the town's people believe that the ghost of the dead children still haunt the railroad tracks and will save any vehicle that is in danger. I didn't think I could muster even that much to describe this terrible film. Incredibly wooden acting? Check. Complete lack of suspense? Check.

October 4th – Voodoo Moon (2005)
Starring Eric Mabius, best known for his current gig on television's Ugly Betty but here playing a character not too far removed from his turn in The Crow: Salvation as he plays a man obsessed with destroying an evil spirit that unleashed a mass murder spree that wiped out his entire small hometown in Tennessee, including watching his own parents slaughtered. Only Mabius's Cole and his sister played by Charisma Carpenter survived and got out alive. Since then has dedicated his life to studying different ways to fight the evil spirit with everything from exorcism to voodoo. Eventually, Cole and his sister along with several people whom Cole has saved over the years get together back to face off with this evil spirit for a final showdown. John Amos and Jeffrey Combs are two of those people from Cole's past who provide some decent comedic relief moments. There are some good elements here in this made for Sci-Fi Channel film, but given the television limitations it doesn't get fleshed out as well as it could be.

October 5th – Clive Barker's Nightbreed (1990)
Having not seen this film in many, many years I was happy to rediscover this creepy and creative flick about a man who has been terrorized by nightmares his entire life about a world of monsters called Midian. Filmmaker David Cronenberg co-stars here as a manipulative psychotherapist who gives very good creepiness. The plot is ambitious but ultimately falls short of its intentions. Otherwise it's still very entertaining for the visual palate alone, with many fantastic creature designs. I'd love to see Clive Barker's extended director's cut which fleshes out the mythology even more, that is if he's ever able to get it released.

October 6th - The Monster Squad (1987)
Last year I immediately picked up this when it came out on DVD to celebrate it's twentieth anniversary but I had not gotten around to watching it again so I finally popped it in and was taken right back to what a nice, big sugary-sweet bowl of giddy childhood horror loving fun it is. It's funny to watch now and realize that overall it's a pretty tame film, horror-wise, but that the language alone would never make it into any of overly P.C. junk that kids are fed. Instead they get more violence, without any of the humor or an authenticity of innocence that this movie has to offer.

October 7th - The Ruins (2008)
When this film adaptation of the Scott Smith novel came out this past April I went opening weekend to catch it as it was my birthday and I was eagerly awaiting the film because I enjoyed the book quite a lot. It was a smart, scary and interesting read. Unfortunately the screening I attended that night did not go as planned. The film stock had some major damage, so after we attempted twice to get through the first ten minutes it was not working. We got rain checks from the theatre, but I never ended up seeing it on the big screen. Even more unfortunate was finally catching it on DVD where there far too many character/plot changes, all for the worse, from the novel. But even more so the tone and themes that made the book so rich and suspenseful were turned into a predictably schlocky and hokey slasher flick. The casting didn't help either, especially with Jonathan Tucker, who I particularly loathe in anything I see him in, ever since he was the weak link in Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" back in 2000.

All movies of course are available on DVD. So head on over to Netflix if you want to start your very own Neewalloh Film Fest. This next week hopefully we'll get to some better product. Some of the titles I hope to catch include: The Tommyknockers, Drive Thru, Lifeforce, Troll/Troll 2, Hello Marylou: Prom Night II, Student Bodies, The Hand, Shadow Puppets, The Strangers, Dead and Buried, Night of the Demons, Five Across the Eyes, Something Wicked this Way Comes, Otis, The Host.