Timecrimes (2007) Dir. Nacho Vigalondo

Time travel has been done to death but when it works (and sometimes even when it doesn’t) the time-travel story can be a real blast. Back to the Future remains popular thirty-plus years on. The question “If you could go back in time. . .” must get asked daily on social media, or at least some variation. Hell, I’ve even written a time-travel story. My novella Necrosaurus Rex—when you boil it down—is an extreme example of paradox within time travel, albeit with more genital-devouring than your average take on the material, but still.

My point being that the time-travel narrative is one of those milestones every creative has in them. Even if the idea isn’t executed, it has been thought about at least once. It’s kind of like addressing onanism in non-genre literature. Everybody has at least one masturbation story in them, but not all of those stories are gonna be Portnoy’s Complaint.

Just like how not every time-travel story is going to be Primer.

Or Timecrimes.

Continue reading “Classic Shit: Timecrimes (2007)” →

Guillermo Del Toro thinks Let The Right One In is “as delicate, haunting and poetic a film as you’re ever bound to see… a chilling fairy tale.” That’s no small praise from the man who brought audiences films like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone.

No surprise, but I would highly recommend Let The Right One In to any viewer interested in quality horror cinema.

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Survival of the Dead (2009) Dir. George A. Romero

George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead is a film that I like (non-ironically) more than you do. I say that with confidence, while also realizing that there are those very few who likewise enjoy the film. However, its absolute critical drubbing and almost non-existent box office cannot be ignored. Survival was no Dawn or Day … hell, it wasn’t even Land (another entry that was thrashed upon release that I also enjoyed), though it was a helluva step up from Diary.

But—and here’s the rub—it was never meant to be any of those films, so criticism by comparison is kind of pointless and becomes more a critique of the viewer’s own baggage, not the movie. Additionally, I don’t think Survival (or Diary) is technically in the same narrative universe. The only carryovers were the undead and the relentless pessimism towards human nature, which I seem to recall critics and fans bemoaning with regards to Survival’s story. Too “on the nose” was levied at the film back in 2008. I’d argue, however, that the message was right on the money.

Hell, I’d say Survival of the Dead was damn near prescient in regards to the political shithouse we now find ourselves in. Here’s a choice quote, if you don’t believe me:

“In an us-versus-them world, someone puts up a flag; another person tears it down and puts up his own. Pretty soon no one remembers what started the war in the first place and the fighting becomes all about those stupid flags.”

Continue reading “Classic Shit: Survival of the Dead (2009)” →