Showing posts with label scifi horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scifi horror. Show all posts

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Communion (1989)




Only Christopher Walken could be completely incoherent when he's supposed to be sane and nearly completely understandable when his character's supposed to be batshit crazy, in other words, as his character gets progressively crazy, walken in his portrayal of the character becomes more coherent. This story is unique and very interesting, it's about an entire family (and group of friends) who were abducted by aliens at the same time only to think it was all a dream til much later when they realize it was real. The film is based on a book which is based on a true story but in the "true story" only Walken's character was abducted. The embellishment was an
improvement however, and the film does a marvelous job using no post-editing special effects whatsoever and is one of the last films ever to do so (meaning no CG, and whatever effects you see, happened live in front of the camera). The film is really confusing and I mainly give it a lower rating just because of that, it didn't really have much of a flow to it. Walken's acting when his character starts to "go crazy" was arguably one of his most unhinged roles and was largely improvised (there are dancing scenes with the aliens people!), but his time being "sane" is completely overacted IMO. If you like alien movies I recommend it, otherwise I just recomend reading about it. By the way, this is also the origin of the classic "tearshaped-bug-eyed-alien" look, this film was the first time they were ever depicted as such. The aliens may look fake and rubbery at times, but I felt overall this film did well with the budget they had. I give the film a 3.5/5, this film is featured in Rue Morgue Magazine's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See, and the trailer is below:

Saturday, January 18, 2014

The Crawling Eye (1958)

Though some may love the name it often gets overlooked by serious moviegoers for obvious reasons. Those who look for and enjoy serious dramas the likes of Schindler's List, won't necessarily lean towards a film titled "The Crawling Eye". But here's what you should know about it and why those other people are missing out: The Misfits wrote a song about it, Stephen King is a fan and referenced the film in IT, and John Carpenter said it was a main inspiration for The Fog(1980). The movie was developed from the ruins of a failed British TV series (The Trollenberg Terror) The film is about aliens that hide in a mountain pass always hiding in fog. The aliens start decapitating mountain climbers and prepare for a descent to the village below. The plot is centers around a woman medium who has a psychic connection with the aliens. The film is very well acted, superbly filmed from a cinematography standpoint, and unlike most 50s "B-movies" it is very logically sound. The movie's feel is similar to Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) or The original version of The Thing (1951 aka The Thing from Another World). Just like classic creature films like Cat People (1942) rarely do you ever see the monster, until the end. This is also probably one of the first films to cover the subject of decapitation, and it did a really good job with the special effects (ahead of most 1950s standards). Mystery Science Theater 3000 did do an episode on this movie, but trust me it's still legit. I give it a 4.5-5/5, I'd advise against watching the trailer because it shows the monster, and in my opinion knowing what the monster looks like is worth waiting for. This film is featured on Rue Morgue Magazine's list of 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See.

Critters (1986)

Not much to say about this one, it was ok but I don't see why it had 3 sequels. Special effects were good but there are better 80s creature horror comedies out there like Gremlins (1984). I give it a 3-3.5/5 (trivia: Leonardo Dicaprio's first movie was Critters 3). Trailer is below: