Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn. (The Horrors of Halloween Part III)

And FINALLY we're onto the good stuff, Its finally time to move away from poorly conceived cross-overs and so-so sequels and onto a perfect example of Halloween Horror entertainment, Yes ladies and gentlemen the time has come to review "Evil Dead 2"

Directed by Sam Raimi and Staring B-Movie King Bruce Campbell "The Evil Dead" was a labor of love that resulted from nothing but hard work and dedication, It was created on a next to nothing budget by inexperienced actors and director who had found success with a short prototype (Within The Woods) and decided to up their game.

The film would have undoubtedly not done as well as it did if it weren't for horror legend Steven King who claimed that it was  "The most ferociously original horror film of the year" helping the film reach a wider audience.

So as the film did better that anyone (including the creators) could have anticipated a sequel was given the go ahead with a much larger budget (Once again largely thanks to Steven King - such a nice man) allowing a young Sam Raimi to retell a simpler version of the original story while expanding upon the universe.

Ash J. Williams (Bruce Campbell) takes his girlfriend Linda up to a cabin in the mountains as part of a romantic getaway, unfortunately an ancient evil is released that

possesses Linda and traps Ash in the cabin, With no way to escape Ash has to attempt to survive as long as he can, but it soon becomes clear that it is not just the horrors outside the cabin that he has to contend with as he slowly begins losing his grip on his sanity.

So the story is pretty basic with the premise of "Man trapped in cabin by evil forces" but as far as horror films go often an overly complicated story simply doesn't fit the genre and distracts from the scares, this film serves to make the best use out of its premise with the cabin seeming as dark inside as out creating a great background environment with a menacing atmosphere and sees Ash dismembering himself long before "Saw" made it cool.

As briefly mentioned in my "Event Horizon" review great horror is not always required to come from external threats and enemies, great tension and horror can often be drawn from the mental state of the protagonist and can be a far more effective tool at creating fear. This film is another perfect example of this since in my opinion the few sequences in which Ash's imagination runs amok causing surreal hallucinations such as his own reflection literally jumping out of the mirror to question his sanity and a room full of inanimate object such as lamps, clocks and a very creepy deer head coming to life and madly laughing at him are the best moments of the film as well as serving to create a rift between the audience and the character as it becomes harder to imagine just what Ash is going through, as well as causing the audience to question whether or not what they are seeing in later scenes is actually happening or if it is simply losing it.

The film switches between horror and slapstick with many of the more horrific moments being countered by comic violence that strangely balances the action and prevents the film from becoming far to dark, this is expanded upon in the sequel "Army of Darkness" but doesn't feel as well balanced as in this installment.

We Need You! For Our Undead Horde. 

The possession cam (in which characters are chased by an unseen force from the pursuers perspective) is brilliant with the presence seeming menacing and evil simply through a first person shot and some creepy sound effects, resulting in a great sequence in which the unseen force pursues Ash as he attempts to out run it in the Oldsmobile (The car that appears in almost all of Sam Raimi's films) which is almost nail bitingly tense.

The acting is strong throughout with a great performance coming from Bruce Campbell (as always) who is brilliant at portraying Ash as he struggles with the strain of the situation and his slow descent toward madness.

The rest of the cast are strong in there specific roles but there roles rarely evolve beyond solely being bodies to be possessed,  but this does create interesting reactions from characters who find those they care about the most suddenly possessed.

Also this film features the greatest over the top blood spatter scenes ever, with blood exploding from corpses and even walls drenching characters from head to toe in red.

Got to 'Hand' It To Him.

The final act shows a real increase in passing and a step up in the action that seems to brilliantly portray the worsening situation and even though I wont spoil the ending I will simply it is the greatest inconclusive twist ending since "Back to the Future: part 2".
So all in this is a brilliant movie and deserving sits pretty in my top ten list. So I strongly advise checking this out instead of any of the trash being released this Halloween because I promise that it will not disappoint.

Alien Resurrection (The Horrors of Halloween Part II)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) and written by Joss Whedon (Serenity) this is the fourth installment of the Alien franchise following on from Alien3 and though decision is split on whether or not this can be classed as a horror film, I see it as a Science Fiction Action film with Horror tendencies and as a direct decedent of a truly brilliant, genre shaping Sci-Fi Horror that is reason enough for me to review it as part of my “Month of Horror” segment.

Set 200 years after Alien3, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been resurrected on a military space ship through the miracle of cloning by The United Systems Army who wants the Alien Queen that was gestating inside her at the time of her death (Would cloning Ripley really clone the Alien Queen inside her? I’m pretty sure cloning doesn't work that way). A small team of mercenaries abduct and deliver the hosts required for the aliens development but then would you believe it something goes wrong and the aliens manage to escape and begin slaughtering everyone on the ship, leaving a rag tag group of survivors including the cloned Ripley to attempt to escape.

Its interesting to look at the sift in balance in the later Aliens movies as the studios attempts combined what was best about the first two highly successful movies for instance Alien3 combines the single Alien on a rampage idea of the first film with the gore and death-count of the second, while Alien Resurrection instead combines the multiple threat of a large number of Xenos(Aliens) from the second film with the claustrophobic environment of a confined spaceship from the original, gently tipping the balance as they attempt to draw out what was best of the earlier movies , this is in no way a bad thing but does leave a lot of room for error.

Now in my Aliens review I mentioned the symbolism used to subtly suggest the theme of motherhood throughout the film.
Now Alien Resurrection is as subtle as a sledge hammer about the way in which it portrays the theme of motherhood, With the character of Ripley forming some weird parental bond with the aliens, openly referring to herself as being the Aliens mother and being shown as genuinely happy when they manage escape confinement even though a matter of minutes later they are attempting to bash their way through a door to kill her.
And as a final nail in this symbolic coffin you have the Alien Newborn which (despite being a interesting idea) is simply several different kinds of wrong and boast one of the most bizarre creature designs I have ever seen.

Ripley is far less enjoyable to watch than in previous installments due to the already mentioned ‘mother of the enemy’ story-line that leaves the audience unsure of her goals or motivations due to the cross species cloning, its also interesting to see a version of Ripley that doesn't feel the need to try and save everyone, often simply sitting back and watching as other characters are killed off.

Annoyingly the seemingly most interesting of the pirate/Merc characters is killed off first which leaves Winona Ryder’s Call in the limelight for most of the movie in the most unbelievable acting and out of place casting in the series to date also it doesn't help that her character is completely unlike-able and even the major plot twist about the character fail to make the character interesting.
The character of Christie played by Gary Dourdan Is enjoyable to watch as one of the main decision makers for the group, even though his screen time is bitterly short compared to less entertaining characters.
The main issue I have with many if not all of the other characters is that they seem far to removed from realism and being highly cartoony, contrasting against the more believable and relatable characters of earlier on in the series, which are now replaced by characters that can deflect bullets of heating pipes resulting in a real lack of atmosphere and tension throughout the entire movie with the film sacrificing tension for mild laughs.

Many moments in the film seem overly goofy such as the character of General Perez (Dan Hedaya) pausing to pull out a piece of his own brain and Call trying to drink while wearing boxing gloves
But there are many great sequences such Ripley stumbling upon all the previous failed clones some of which are truly horrifying to look at and the emotional impact this has on the character is one of best moments of the film, a gut turning sequence involving unarmed soldiers trapped with an alien inside and escape pod and a great death involving a Chestburster are all personal favorites.
But the best scene in the film is without question the underwater sequence which shows the aliens in a environment unconsidered in any of the previous installments and which makes them appear more  dangerous than ever making this not only the best scene of the film but one of the best in the series.

The effects in my opinion are the best in the series and a true testament to how far cinema has come in terms of creating realism with the aliens looking brilliant and slimier than ever. My only problem with the effect in this film is that of the death of the Newborn Alien which frankly I’m pretty sure defies physics.

I understand that this review is going to be largely unfair as I am that worst of creatures ‘a fan’ and as such it is incredibly difficult to please me and looking back now I can fully understand why critics opinions are so largely split by this film as it fluctuates wildly between moments of idiotic-ness and brilliance.

So in summary is this an enjoyable film? - Yes (well enjoyable enough)

But does it live up to its name and other truly brilliant Sci-Fi Horrors?
Not by a long shot,  but there is still some great moments throughout this film that makes it deserve a watching.