Of Silence (2012)

WARNING: May Contain Some Spoilers

Colby is man confined by his past horrors and the current ones that invade his broken life. After an accident causing damage to his ear Colby's love of scuba diving is lost, as well as a steady pay. And with the death of his wife following in recent wake it doesn't help as Colby becomes more withdrawn from family and life. Debt collectors, a worried family, and no other job passion Colby is falling further into depression. And to make matters worse he begins to hear strange and frightening noises, ones his family and the people around him cannot hear. As Colby divulges further into isolation and deeper into his wife's death, he's to uncover a horrifying presence that could take away the only meaningful thing left to him, his sister Haley.

Of Silence is a different kind of horror film. A simple but aesthetic piece that looks more to a sophisticated level than that of something floating around the indie circuit. Although I can see where a few people may not care for it as writer, director, and star of the film Jeremiah Sayys pays more attention to the subtler build than to a hellacious climax. There's not much visually occurring as the director wants you to listen rather than see the nightmares that surround Colby's life. As any void of dialogue is filled with unique sounds that don't attest to the common horror noises. There's an unsettled sense in your incapability to define what they are. However, your not denied entirely of a monster as the final product does offer a creature but still yet it remains mostly in the shadows. The special effects department creates creatures that look rather interesting, a bit of shame as you never get full exposure but that of course adds to the effect. Less detail is attended to some of the smaller effects, i.e. the smoke, but an overall professional effort on their part.

Usually when a person tries to write, direct, and act in a film they tend to be mishandled, with the qualities varying between the fields. But Jeremiah Sayys seems to have it down as he's preeminent in all aspects. There's a small moment in the film where Colby shows a remote bliss, one that really isn't seen throughout the rest. A smart directorial and acting choice for the film as the slight act elevates both the performance and the character. It let's way to a Colby that the audience never really gets to know, but at one point did exist. And of course the rest where he's imprisoned by his melancholic temper is acted out in a a believable and appropriate manner. The supporting cast is good with noteworthy Ashlee Gillespie as Haley, who acts as the somewhat brighter note of the film. And Matthew Lawrence as the brother, who I recognize from my nineties childhood. On a visual standpoint Of Silence in flawless in cinematography. Scenes in blackness appear intentional and not because of misused lighting. And the set design is captured in a serene gloss that I personally care for as a visual palate.

Outside of the strong technical structure there's also a lovely score that fit to the film perfectly. A defined and disturbed lullaby of sorts that I could recognize in an instant if played again. Not all may like Of Silence, as I said it's a cautious film that paces itself before any horror moment. Some may not personally like the surreal world Colby's life becomes as it fades in and out of memories, visions, and overall bizarre occurrences. Which is a weaker point in the film as it's often hard to decipher exactly what happened and what didn't. I hope to watch it again some day to maybe fill in some of the blanks that it left for me. It's also tending to characters before action, as your often more involved in Colby's state of dejection than the weird noises. But don't let it mislead, Of Silence is a stunning little film that I quite enjoyed. I'd watch again and I'd recommend as a watch for any slow burn horror fan.

Graveyard Shift (1990)

Drifter John Hall has just gotten a job at a textile mill working the lonely graveyard shift. The mill job is basically no different than others except for the fact that carnivorous rats infectiously live there and aren't shy towards the humans while they work. A much bigger rat though assumes position of Hall's new boss, who is reputed and religiously practices being a prick which includes but not limited to hitting woman, blackmailing workers and in general treating his employees like shit. When Hall steps in during a fight and prevents Warwick from beating his mistress Hall makes the list of the cleanup crew in the basement, a job given only to those Warwick really dislikes. At surface value the side job doesn't appear so bad, another graveyard shift on a holiday weekend that pays twice that of minimum all just to do clean up. But when Hall and the rest of the crew head to the basement they find the horrors of what's been growing in the darkness and a answer to all the recently missing workers at the mill.

I'm a bit addled as to how it's possible to send a Stephen King short story into disarray. A full length novel yes, but a short story that's essential plot moment is the cleanup crew in a basement? In truth I'm not even sure what occurred for a good half of this film, as nothing was developed. Instead a shallow plot carries equally shallow characters into a well lit (I'll address that later) basement where a monstrous creature is eating the workers. Having read the short story part of the terror was the concept that the untouched areas of darkness could mutate horrors beyond conception, hence the legless rat at the end of King's story that brought more terror in its inability to move than this flying bat creature of proportions. The script was almost painful at times by how obvious it was that King didn't write it, the dialect being flaky and the skin deep story. The missing workers addition seemed so slasher in context that when contrasted against the monster sub genre it falls in the it didn't really work bracket. The small love story added to appeal to more audiences was needless and it went nowhere. I'm not sure I'll understand the obsession of making two characters of the opposite sex always being attracted to each other in films. Maybe why I seek out horror and not romance. 

David Andrews is alright as leading man John Hall, as said there's little character development and all Andrews has to do is essentially stand there and be the good guy. I actually don't mind that Hall's character direction went basically no where in the film, as in the story it seemed more of a Jack Torrance play off and was dispensable in what should of been the basic monster under the stairs story. Stephen Macht's Warwick was creepy but I'm not entirely sure if that was by default or from that accent he was attempting to do. I spent a good hour and a half waiting for a rat to gnaw his face off and for that horrid voice to be dead forever. All sarcasm and humor aside that accent was the scariest element about the film. If anyone was notable, and not for strange New England African Southern Drawls, Brad Dourif was hilarious as the offbeat exterminator and shows the only true bit of acting from the cast. From a cinematography point Graveyard Shift does have some nice shots of photography, particularly the opening credits in the graveyard but I had a huge issue with the lighting at the end. This may be a nit picking horror film critique (have I really come to that?) but why was the basement so brightly lit? King spent endless paragraphs and sentences describing the immense darkness that lye underneath the factory but everything was in clear view here. It took another fraction of horror from the story that was already limited in most respects.

At the end Graveyard Shift is just an inept film, with direction and writing being it's main faults. Hardly anything redoubtable, unless you have a fear of rats. This is not my favorite King story, by no means, and further adaptations have been much worse for him but turning the short story that didn't have much too it into a full length film seems inane. And again if your just going to change everything than why bother. Also I must point out the tagline inaccuracy which reads "Stephen King took you to the edge with The Shining and Pet Sematary. This time......he pushes you over", almost sad how untrue the statement is. If this is to attest for anything it's to not believe taglines. Graveyard Shift is not an entirely wasted watch, it does hold some interest in the rats and I love Brad Dourif with all my horror movie loving heart so it's always good to watch him be creepy. Likely a two out of five star film there's no need to watch the forgotten early 90's film unless you've had your eye on it.

Blood Freak (1972)

Being Thanksgiving I initially set out to review Thankskilling, under the impression that it was the only killer turkey movie to be found, atlas I was wrong. Unbeknownst to this 'gem' a reviewer on Netflix led me to the Something Weird Grindhouse Video. Therefore for this Thanksgiving I will bless you with something a little more obscure...you can thank me later. 

At the opening of Blood Freak our chain smoking narrator introduces us to Herschel, a well liked man from what most can tell. Herschel sees Angel by the side of the road with car troubles and being the kind of man he is (this is specified by our narrator) helps to get her home. At Angel's house her sister Ann is throwing an everyday drug party with her friends. The two sisters are as opposite as ever, Angel the Christian do gooder who has faith in all, and Ann the coke whore. Angel asks Herschel if he's ever partaken in the after school activities of Ann's friends, he replies that he's never done such illegal acts but I'm not convinced. It doesn't take Ann long to pursue after Herschel, nor that long to get him hooked on drugs in a peer pressure incident that even puts 'it'll make you look cool' to shame. While Ann is sexing up Herschel and getting him hooked Angel helps Herschel get a job at her father's turkey farm, which includes an odd assortment of jobs like test eating the turkey. After an experimental turkey eating Herschel wanders off and begins to feel sick, which eventually results into convulsions, and to the score of gobbling turkeys he becomes something not quite human. A human with a turkey head. But for Herschel life is not to simply get better now that he has a turkey head to deal with, he's still addicted to drugs and the only way to curb his thirst is by drinking the blood of addicts.

If you under the impression that I'm fucking with you on the plot or exaggerating it for comedic effect, I assure you I am not. It is as I said, so yes Blood Freak is a film about a man with a turkey head killing the drug fiends of this world. I was waiting for Pam Grier to show up at any moment. No doubt produced by Christian society group or the sorts Blood Freak sends the message that faith is stronger than drugs, and forgiveness is inside us all, if we just don't bother to poison ourselves with such evil. The narrator peeks in and out of the film to give us little speeches on the meaning of life, what have you and shamefully cast judgmental looks at us through the film of his cigarette smoke. Herschel manages to make friends and fall in love with Ann after only living there for a week, prompting them to say such things as "you know how Herschel is" or "Herschel wouldn't do that". The special effects are nonexistent in this bloody stump of a film, the Turkey head too clearly a mask and not clear enough to be a distinctive turkey. By the way, brilliant approach to avoiding the leg saw scene, that 'jump' in the film was totes convincing. There isn't a lot of blood until the final twenty minutes where Herschel takes to killing his victims by hanging them upside down and draining them from the throat. But when blood is present its quite vivid and not hidden in the dark lighting or grained film.

The entire cast is the result of rejected porn stars, or looks thereof. Steve Hawkes is Herschel, the apparently strong, handsome, and attractive to women sort of guy, none of which I picked up on through Hawkes acting. He also wrote and directed the film, it's not adept, I'll say but, if there's anything to speak for acting, writing, directing, sound, etc are all congenial with one another, one is no worse than the other. The Christian narrator played by Brad F. Grinter reads his long diatribes of preach off the queue cards on his desk (a little disheartening considering he co-wrote and co-directed the script with Hawkes), trying his very best to guilt me into salvation. There's an irony here, as the film promotes the life cleansed of illegal substances and tainted meat yet every actor's eyelids hang lower than their pupils and mutter their speech in a monotonic voice. Two symptoms of the clear usage of drugs, and possibly bad chemically altered turkey as poor Herschel was victim too. The cinematography varies between a home movie and the misguided shots of a snuff film. The DP lingers at moments, undoubtedly to delay time as the film only lengths an hour and twenty minutes. The most mundane, and not mundane but equally boring, acts are stretched beyond reasonable capacity; my interest is little in watching a bunch of turkeys gobble in their pens.

I'm not sure if the film is victim to the same blind innocence as Troll 2 was, not intentionally meant to be bad but consistent all the way through. I have a dissenting feeling that it is, with the uplifting message and all. The film transfer I saw was rough, it looked like they cleaned the strip with sandpaper. It also wasn't as graphic as I had anticipated, there was a sex scene with Turkey Head Herschel but from what I saw it was in black, yet the site I watched it on forced me to make an account to make sure I was eighteen and could watch the damn thing. So if there is an unrated version out there I missed I encourage you to find. This review may confuse you some as I've not said anything positive in the light of Blood Freak but I'm here to recommend. It's not in the so bad its good category as anything as poorly built as this can't even be near the term good, but its so bad its laughable that you may cry sort of film. It doesn't even really belong in any type of genre, it's really a class of its own. Should I just make up an Christian/Anti Drug killer turkey movie label and hope that one day a second film can bask in the bizarre spill of recreation? I think I should. As most seem to be at a loss for words I shall say it; watch it, I suggest not sober. Happy Thanksgiving. 

Troll (1986)

Troll follows the story of it's title character, Torok, a centuries old troll/fairy that's out to create an entire fairy universe inside the constrictions of an apartment complex. With the help of Wendy Anne Potter, the cute little girl to the family that just moved in down stairs, Torok believes he's finally going to rule in the human world. Once in Wendy Anne's body Torok goes door to door and using his nifty ring creates an Eden for his friends. But not everyone is blind to Wendy's new behavior, her brother, Harry Jr, see's that there's something wrong with his sister and with a little help from the witch who lives upstairs, he's out to save his sister and the world. The 1986 B-horror film has been hiding in its sequels cult shadow for years, forgotten by such infamy the original film proves to actually be decent and entertaining. 

In a lot of ways Troll is almost a horror movie to a kid, but at the same time the second layer plot might go over their heads. The fairy-tale aspect and the lack of deaths might appeal to that sort of audience more than an adult, unless of course your nostalgic. The whimsical nature to Troll is equally paired with an undeniable quality, its humor, some intentional, but lets be honest most not. The name of the dad, Harry Potter, a writer who gets thrown into a world of witches and trolls? It almost feels like its satirizing J.K. Rowling novels but that's impossible since it predates it by 11 years. The trolls themselves while creepy are also laughable, especially when they sing. No blood, mostly people oddly running into each other at all times, the Troll kicking people three times his size asses, and pod like things that look more like they belong in gardens than as some violent alien spawn types.

The characters, to my deep surprise, were developed. Between Eunice, the old soul who seems to have a gleeful tinge to her expression every time she talks about the trolls, to Malcolm, the dying little person who's humble disposition about his life made you root for him and his survival. Harry Potter Sr. was gloriously lame, from his pitiful attempt at a pre pregnancy drug joke to his horrendous dancing. In fact lets just lump Anne Potter in that category as well, her undeniable love for her husband and her mom duties put her in line with Mr. Potter, but its all in a good way. They are hilarious together, the scene where Malcolm is telling the Fairy Princess story at the dinner table and Mr. Potter looks over at Mrs. Potter and lovingly grabs her hand, I had a good laugh on that one. Beyond cheesy. 

Troll is not all laughs though, the story is interesting and if Ghoulies or Leprechaun scared you then I have no doubt Torok the Troll will keep you up for at least one night. This film doesn't get a lot of credit because Troll 2 is the ultimate so "bad it's good movie". I really like Troll, I laughed through a good portion of it and although it may not have exactly worked I give the screenwriters credit for at least attempting a serious film, I mentioned it earlier but I'd say its plot jumped a second layer. I own the Troll/Troll 2 double feature and it was a decent purchase, in my opinion. Troll's a good B-movie to watch or maybe for a little bit older kids who won't get too scared.