Willow Creek (2014)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 16 July 2014
After his last two films—the scathing comedies World’s Greatest Dad and God Bless America—Bobcat Goldthwait seemed like an unlikely candidate to jump into the “found footage” horror sweepstakes. And yet here we are, with his latest film Willow Creek about to see a small theatrical run before appearing on VOD and Blu-ray/DVD. Willow Creek is unmistakably part of that crowded, much-maligned sub genre: the action of the film follows a couple on a trek into the remote woods where the infamous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot footage was shot in the 1960s, and what happens when things inevitably go south. While this may sounds like a formula for another samey “found footage” film, Willow Creek is easily one of the best films of this type to come along since The Blair Witch Project.
Jim (Bryce Johnson) and Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) are a young couple on vacation. Jim has been obsessed with Bigfoot since he was a kid; Kelly is a staunch non-believer. Still, she has agreed to join Jim on this trip to help him make a little YouTube-style documentary about Bigfoot and his own quest to visit the site where the most famous Bigfoot footage was shot. They visit the town of Willow Creek, near Bluff Creek and the film site, and Jim interviews locals while Kelly shoots the video. They stop by various local Bigfoot-related businesses like the Early Bird (home of the “Bigfoot Burger”) and run into a few locals who are less than amused by yet another Bigfoot weirdo running around their town. Once Jim and Kelly are camped out in the forest and weird sounds startle them awake, they begin to wonder whether Bigfoot is out to get them, or if something even worse wants them out of the woods.
There are a few things that set Willow Creek apart from most “found footage” horror films. The number one asset to the film is its strong characterization. Johnson and Gilmore are excellent as Jim and Kelly, and they really seem like a smart, funny couple out on a nice vacation. Their banter is mostly improvised, Goldthwait only providing them with an outline of the action of the film, and the locals they interview for Jim’s “documentary” are all genuine Willow Creek residents. The first two thirds of the film are bright, funny, and genuine, although the tensions in the relationship between Jim and Kelly are carefully shaded in their performances. The audience is given plenty of time to engage with these characters, and more importantly they will want to do so; when bad things start happening in the woods, the audience is on edge because it actually cares about these characters.
The other major point that sells Willow Creek as “found footage” is its understanding of the language of “home movies.” Similar to Justin Cole’s Upper, Willow Creek truly feels like a tape played straight through, complete with jumps and gaps in time when the camera is turned off (with one notable exception). This leads to some familiar “found footage” complaints, but it also makes the film’s centerpiece shot work exceptionally well. The first night the couple is in the woods, Jim is awakened by weird noises, and he turns the camera on to try to catch them. Kelly wakes up and complains, but then the two settle in to listen. And listen, and listen, and listen. This massively long unbroken shot is spellbinding and actually frightening, in no small part thanks to some fantastic sound design and, again, great performances by the film’s two leads.
There is a lot more to admire about Willow Creek, including the fact that for the first part of the film it also basically works as a fun documentary about real-life Bigfoot fan culture. Goldthwait also clearly believes in the maxim that “less is more,” and Willow Creek is over in under 80 minutes. If anything, this feels something like an over-correction from “found footage” films that go on for too long. With its funny, engaging characters, deep roots in Bigfoot mythology, effective sound design and convincing “home movie” style, Willow Creek proves that with the right approach, even a “found footage” movie can be great.
Wish Upon (2017)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 13 July 2017
The Summer box office is always crowded with big studio tentpoles, blockbusters designed to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars, so it’s rare to see a studio taking a chance on something very different. It’s tough not to admire distributor Broadgreen’s ambition for releasing Wish Upon, a small teen horror movie, one week after the opening of Spider-Man: Homecoming and the same day War for the Planet of the Apes is released. Maybe their counterprogramming will work and they’ll have a surprise hit—and, in that case, probably also a new franchise—on their hands. And while Wish Upon is hardly an instant classic, or even a “good” movie exactly, that wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing that could happen in a post-Final Destination horror scene.
Clare Shannon (Joey King) lives with her father Jonathan (Ryan Phillippe) and their dog Max in the house where Clare grew up and her mother Johanna (Elisabeth Röhm) committed suicide when Clare was very young. Jonathan scavenges for scrap metal and other stuff he can sell for a living, a vocation Clare finds deeply embarrassing. She’s terrorized by uberbitch mean girl Darcie Chapman (Josephine Langford) on a daily basis, but luckily has two best friends in Meredith (Sydney Park) and June (Shannon Purser) to help her muddle through high school. One day Jonathan finds an ornate music box with Chinese characters on it and brings it home as an early birthday present for Clare, who is learning Chinese in school. She’s initially annoyed, but comes around when she roughly translates enough text on the box to learn it grants its owner seven wishes.
As this happened to be a particularly difficult day with her popular nemesis, Clare angrily wishes ill toward Darcie Chapman. The next morning, something very bad happens to Darcie and something much worse happens to faithful old Max, but Clare doesn’t—or doesn’t want to—connect the dots. Soon after, Clare enlists the help of classmate Ryan (Ki Hong Lee) to help translate the ancient Chinese characters on the box. But in the meantime she’s happy to make another wish or two. Or four. Each time she makes a wish, it seems like something terrible happens. Who’s next? Her loving but embarrassing father? Her kind neighbor Mrs. Deluca (Sherilyn Fenn)? Her friends Meredith and June? What happens when the last wish is granted? And what really led to her mother’s mysterious suicide?
If the basic framework of Wish Upon seems familiar, it’s no surprise. At its heart, it’s sort of a loose take on “The Monkey’s Paw” without the horrific irony that accompanies that famous story’s wishes. Clare makes a wish, something bad happens to somebody, but not necessarily anyone Clare cares about or who has any relation to the wish in question. As in any such film, the fun is in the specifics. Director John R. Leonetti (a veteran cinematographer who recently directed Annabelle) stages a series of parallel situations for characters that are bound to end poorly for them, drawing out tension from which one will lose out. Parallels to the Final Destination franchise are unavoidable, as characters are put in increasingly ridiculous circumstances, frequently in prosaic settings. One character’s extended pas de deux with the switch for their garbage disposal is particularly amusing.
The screenplay by Barbara Marshall, who also wrote last year’s teen apocalypse film Viral, has some canny observations of its young characters’ behavior and the cast is mostly very good in their somewhat limited roles. Joey King is an endearing lead, although she has the basically impossible task of keeping Clare somewhat sympathetic as the body count rises. Sydney Park and Shannon Purser are great as Clare’s best friends, but it would have been great to see them get time to do more. Ki Hong Lee is well-cast as Ryan, who is refreshingly a fully-developed character and potential romantic interest for Clare rather than just a mechanism to move the plot along. One other supporting cast member of note is Mitchell Slaggert as hilariously creepy “popular guy” Paul, who becomes one of the targets of Clare’s wishes. Leonetti keeps the cheap thrills coming at a good clip, and with his able cast and a fantastic score by tomandandy (who had also provided the score for the recent 47 Meters Down and many low-budget genre projects that have been elevated by their work), Wish Upon is at least never boring.
/>
That said, it’s certainly not going to give any viewers an intellectual workout. Wish Upon is a solidly built PG-13 teen horror movie that does exactly what it promises to do and not a whit more. It’s the kind of thing that is destined to hit home video and/or VOD in an “unrated” version, and its death scenes certainly look like they’ve been truncated to get a more teen-friendly rating for its theatrical run. It also could easily inspire a long franchise where the demonic music box moves from person to person, which again could potentially be a positive thing for studio horror. The first Final Destination movie was a solid but largely unremarkable horror film, but its sequels took the concept and really ran with it to highly entertaining results. At best, we might get a similar series from this film if it’s successful. At worst, it’s not a bad way to spend an hour and a half in a movie theater. Anyone looking to do just that and unwilling or uninterested in committing the better part of three hours to Summer blockbusters might find Wish Upon a worthwhile diversion.
Wolf Creek 2 (2013)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 29 April 2014
Greg Mclean’s 2005 film Wolf Creek made a big impression on horror audiences with its relentless brutality. Essentially a Texas Chain Saw Massacre-alike set in the desolate Australian Outback, Wolf Creek was undoubtedly successful in generating unease. Roger Ebert famously gave the film a scathing review, claiming the film had but a single purpose: “To establish the commercial credentials of its director by showing his skill at depicting the brutal tracking, torture and mutilation of screaming young women.” Naturally, many horror fans loved the film, and it has become something of a modern classic. Mclean’s follow-up film, the underrated giant crocodile thriller Rogue, did not make as big a splash as Wolf Creek. This may well be why we now have Wolf Creek 2, finally seeing a U.S. release the better part of a decade after the original’s stateside release. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this new chapter in the story of Outback madman Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) is reminiscent of another infamous horror sequel: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
The film actually opens with the exact same title cards displayed at the beginning of the first film. Following this, a pair of unsuspecting police officers pulls Mick over for speeding, not because he was actually speeding but because they’re bored. This goes about as well as anyone who has seen the first film would guess, and then we’re introduced to a couple of German backpackers making their way across Australia. Katarina (Shannon Ashlyn) and Rutger (Phillippe Klaus) are hitchhiking to the Wolf Creek crater, but become stranded in the park when they can’t find a ride back to the nearest town. That night, they are visited by Mick, and soon Katarina finds herself running blind through the countryside with Mick in hot pursuit. She stumbles onto a roadway and flags down a car driven by Paul (Ryan Corr), who helps Katarina at the cost of becoming Mick’s next target.
Katarina and Rutger’s trek and run-in with Mick is strongly reminiscent of the original Wolf Creek and all its ilk, but Mclean seems less interested in making another Outback stalk ‘n slash than in punishing the audience. Like Tobe Hooper’s sequel to Chain Saw Massacre, Wolf Creek 2 amps up the first film’s brutality but expands the scope. Both films seem to revel in sheer unpleasantness for its own sake, giving the audience more of what they presumably wanted in a sequel to such a gruesome, difficult film. It also shares the same streak of nihilistic, jet-black humor, leaning hard on obvious soundtracking (Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces” plays while one character is completely dismembered) and lengthy car chases that go in unexpected directions. One particular sequence featuring an 18-wheeler and a lot of very unfortunate kangaroos will either have viewers cracking up or reaching for the remote.
Perhaps the biggest change is that now that we get to spend more time with Mick, he becomes a caricature of what he was in the first film. Obsessed with humiliating and murdering foreigners who dare to set foot in his country, Mick talks constantly and steamrolls through more than enough people to draw attention to himself in his pursuit of Katarina and Paul. By the time he’s lulled into singing a rendition of “Tie Me Kangaroo Down,” it’s tough not to miss the relative restraint used by Mclean and Jarratt in the first film. It’s not as though Mick was a nice guy in Wolf Creek, but he at least wasn’t late-era Freddy Krueger, mugging and winking while he guts, shoots or runs over everybody who crosses his path. At least the beautiful cinematography gives us some gorgeous scenery to look at every so often as the occasional reprieve from Mick’s nonstop chatter.
Wolf Creek 2 is a textbook case of much, much, MUCH more actually being less. Like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, its constant violence is numbing and exhausting, its larger budget going mostly to making Mick a Terminator-level force of destruction and paying for those awful soundtrack choices, as well as a labyrinth of underground tunnels (some of which actually appear to be lifted directly from Chainsaw 2!). Running at a mind-numbing 106 minutes and ending with a hugely anticlimactic middle finger, Wolf Creek 2 is one of the nastiest horror sequels in recent memory, on a number of levels.
The Woman (2011)
Originally published on Film Monthly 14 October 2011
Lucky McKee’s The Woman was the center of a small controversy at this year’s Sundance Film Festival when an irate audience member was caught on video ranting about the film outside the screening. While it’s not hard to see why this particular audience member was upset– The Woman does feature graphic, protracted scenes of its title character being imprisoned and tortured– it’s also obvious Irate Guy didn’t stick around for the end of the film. Like Deadgirl, The Woman is a brutal horror film with a fiercely feminist heart. However, The Woman is not as subtle as Deadgirl, and anyone who has seen that film will know that is saying a lot.
The Woman is a sequel to author Jack Ketchum’s novel The Offspring, although reading that book (or seeing its film adaptation) is not necessary to understand what is happening in The Woman. The last surviving member of her feral family, the titular Woman (Pollyanna McIntosh) lives in a forest, hunting animals for food and drinking from a creek. One day while out catching fish, she is spotted by successful lawyer Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers). Chris is living the American Dream with his nice house, wife Belle (Angela Bettis), son Brian (Zach Rand) and two daughters, teenage Peggy (Lauren Ashley Carter) and young Darlin’ (Shyla Molhusen). When he spots the Woman, he sees an opportunity to embark on a family project: civilizing this wild creature.
Chris captures the Woman and imprisons her in a tornado shelter away from the house, and introduces her and the idea of his project to his family. Son Brian is clearly eager to keep her, while the women of the house are just as clearly uncomfortable but powerless to say anything to change Chris’s mind. Everyone returns to school and work as if nothing has happened, although we soon learn Brian has a fledgling mean streak towards women (expressed in his anonymous bullying of a female student) and Peggy catches the eye of a concerned teacher, Ms. Raton (Carlee Baker), who notices Peggy’s change in dress to baggy clothes, frequent trips to the bathroom, and reluctance to participate in gym class and wonders if she should bring this problem to Peggy’s parents’ attention.
As the film progresses, Chris is gradually revealed to be a truly monstrous misogynist. While charming– if a little condescending– in public, at home he physically abuses Belle and Peggy is utterly terrified of him. His attitude toward women has also been adopted by Brian, who graduates from schoolyard bullying to more advanced and adult abuse toward the Woman. Throughout the film writer/director McKee hammers home his points bluntly, making Chris into a villain of almost cartoonish proportions, which actually dulls the satire a bit. Instead of just being a cruel family man who runs his household like a prison, we later learn that Chris has a history of treating the females in his life like animals and doesn’t blink an eye when maintaining his personal status quo requires murdering a woman.
The lack of subtlety extends to the film’s soundtrack, which gratingly underscores virtually every moment of the film
’s running time. McKee is obviously concerned with the abuse and violence against women that goes on behind closed doors in seemingly normal households, the complicity of those who know it happens and remain silent about it, and the hypocrisy of political conservatives, and he uses graphic violence and torture to confront the audience. The problem is that for the most part, he’s preaching to the choir: it’s hard to imagine getting this film in front of the type of non-horror audience these messages are meant for, and even harder to imagine them sticking around to watch the whole thing.
There is a lot to admire about The Woman, most notably its strong lead performances by Pollyanna McIntosh (who is alternately sympathetic and terrifying), Angela Bettis and Sean Bridgers. Fans of gruesome violence will swoon over the film’s grand guignol finale, and horror fans who like to get “grad school” on their preferred choice of entertainment will find a lot to chew on. Unfortunately, that’s still probably not enough to convince the people who would possibly benefit most from seeing the film– the Chris Cleeks you see on the street and work with every day– to sit down and watch something this upsetting. And in that sense, The Woman feels like it deserves the rancor it aroused in that Sundance viewer, because if the person who needs to get the film’s message refuses to watch it, then what’s the point of all this suffering?
The Unrepentant Cinephile Page 74
