Movie Reviews--Films of Neil Marshall
This review contains spoilers, images and text.
First of all, I must absolutely say that Netflix is one of the best inventions ever created. Thanks to it, I have been able to view some really fantastic, less-than-famous movies that otherwise would never have been available to me. It is cheap, easy, fast, and has fantastic customer service. Their recommendations are superb.
Now that the shameless plug is over with, on to the movie reviews.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
First up is writer/director Neil Marshall's 2002 horror film Dog Soldiers. This film is not a werewolf movie with soldiers. It is a soldier movie with werewolves. Or so the actors say in the special features. It is unique because of its sparse use of CGI. The creatures are seven-foot-tall, spindly-legged monstrosities that come out of a forest in Scotland during a routine training mission to terrorize a group of grunts. What follows is a no-holds-barred, balls-to-the wall action/horror flick filled with in-jokes and homages to previous horror films and books. One of the characters is named Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, anyone?) and another is H.G. (Harry) Wells. The creatures themselves are disgusting and horrible, and yes, scary, even without CGI. Marshall's explanation for not using CGI was that he felt it was being overused; I agree. As much as I think Gollum and King Kong are cool and characters in themselves, if CGI is done bad (read: another werewolf movie: An American Werewolf in Paris), it's really, really bad.
The acting is high caliber, especially from main character Cooper (Kevin McKidd--Tommy in Trainspotting, HBO's "Rome"), ill-fated Sergeant Wells (Sean Pertwee, a British tv star), and villain Liam Cunningham (TV's "Attila", Breakfast on Pluto).
The film is filled with one-liners and humor, but the horror is palpable, almost too much in its creepiness. Added to this is the fact that I absolutely hate werewolves. I just hate them. I can deal with vampires. Vampires are cool. Monsters--great. Demons, fine. Werewolves just scare me beyond all reason or comprehension. I just cannot deal with transformations. I still can't watch The Howling. I have never seen it. The "I'm hot, it's burning, I'm burning up!" scene from An American Werewolf in London still gives me nightmares. I had to cover my eyes at several scenes in Dog Soldiers. Does that mean it's scary? Hell, yes. If you like horror, see it.
4 Stars out of 5.
The Descent (2005)
I actually heard of The Descent before I heard of Dog Soliders, but I was just able to go see it at the theater on Saturday. Though I enjoyed Dog Soldiers, it is obvious that Marshall has grown as both a writer and a director (and that he had a substantially larger budget).
The Descent grabs you by the throat as soon as you walk into the theater and doesn't let you go for the next hour and 33 minutes. This is the story of 6 British girlfriends who, after Sarah (Shauna Macdonald)'s husband and daughter were tragically killed the previous year, decide to travel to the United States and explore a cave. They are all experienced climbers and hikers and have explored caves before; several of them even complain that the cave that leader Juno (Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Moulin Rouge!, TV's "BeastMaster") has picked for them to explore is too easy.
At first, of course, the cave is a great time. Then it starts to become dark and more harrowing and narrow with each passage. There is a cave-in and the girls become lost. Marshall cleverly begins to show dissention among the girls. They slowly begin to distrust Juno's motives for bringing them there. Was she having an affair with Sarah's husband? Why does Sarah continue to have hallucinations of her dead daughter? What is that noise that keeps following them in the dark? The tension builds slowly, but it builds, it builds so much that it almost chokes you with its intensity. I turned to my roommate at one point and said, "You know, they don't even need any monsters. This movie is scary enough with them just down in the dark of this cave."
That was utterly true, but of course, the monsters did come. And when they do show up, they show up. There is no warning whatsoever. They are there. In your face. Biting off heads, blood, gore, pure utter horror. We were literally almost clutching each other at one point. The creatures are blind, as they would be, living 2 miles underground. They know nothing other than eating and killing these alien things that have invaded their homes.
Again, there are nice paralells with other films. There are several moments that recall the Alien films--especially when one of the creatures has Sarah backed up against a wall, smelling her, while others devour her friend Holly (Nora-Jane Noone, Ella Enchanted) and Sarah tries not to vomit or give herself away. Sarah kills a female creature and her child, again paralells with her own story and Aliens.
The title The Descent itself has many meanings. There are now, of course, tons of fangirls/boys online with conspiracy theories, who point to Sarah's "descent" into madness, saying that the creatures don't really exist--that Sarah is the one who goes around and kills all the girls. Or else that it's all a dream and Sarah is in the hospital after her original tragic accident that killed her family. I tend to think that it's just a creature feature, and you all know how I love those.
Adding to the conspiracy theories is the fact that this movie has two different endings. The United States was given a different ending because American audiences supposedly cannot take "depressing" endings to movies and therefore it was made "happier." I think I actually prefer the "sadder" ending, as it ties things up more, and doesn't make Sarah have to live with even more tragedy and horrible things the rest of her life.
I found the original on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJgAj8HbVs Decide for yourself.
There are, of course, nit-picky things about this film I did not like, but I won't spoil any more of it for you. I do think that Neil Marshall has grown as both a horror director and as a writer. The scares this time are less "cheap" than in Dog Soldiers, more thought-out and intelligent. The characters are more widely developed and the setting is more diverse. I, for one, can't wait for 2007 and Doomsday.
4 and a Half Stars out of 5.
First of all, I must absolutely say that Netflix is one of the best inventions ever created. Thanks to it, I have been able to view some really fantastic, less-than-famous movies that otherwise would never have been available to me. It is cheap, easy, fast, and has fantastic customer service. Their recommendations are superb.
Now that the shameless plug is over with, on to the movie reviews.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
First up is writer/director Neil Marshall's 2002 horror film Dog Soldiers. This film is not a werewolf movie with soldiers. It is a soldier movie with werewolves. Or so the actors say in the special features. It is unique because of its sparse use of CGI. The creatures are seven-foot-tall, spindly-legged monstrosities that come out of a forest in Scotland during a routine training mission to terrorize a group of grunts. What follows is a no-holds-barred, balls-to-the wall action/horror flick filled with in-jokes and homages to previous horror films and books. One of the characters is named Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, anyone?) and another is H.G. (Harry) Wells. The creatures themselves are disgusting and horrible, and yes, scary, even without CGI. Marshall's explanation for not using CGI was that he felt it was being overused; I agree. As much as I think Gollum and King Kong are cool and characters in themselves, if CGI is done bad (read: another werewolf movie: An American Werewolf in Paris), it's really, really bad.
The acting is high caliber, especially from main character Cooper (Kevin McKidd--Tommy in Trainspotting, HBO's "Rome"), ill-fated Sergeant Wells (Sean Pertwee, a British tv star), and villain Liam Cunningham (TV's "Attila", Breakfast on Pluto).
The film is filled with one-liners and humor, but the horror is palpable, almost too much in its creepiness. Added to this is the fact that I absolutely hate werewolves. I just hate them. I can deal with vampires. Vampires are cool. Monsters--great. Demons, fine. Werewolves just scare me beyond all reason or comprehension. I just cannot deal with transformations. I still can't watch The Howling. I have never seen it. The "I'm hot, it's burning, I'm burning up!" scene from An American Werewolf in London still gives me nightmares. I had to cover my eyes at several scenes in Dog Soldiers. Does that mean it's scary? Hell, yes. If you like horror, see it.
4 Stars out of 5.
The Descent (2005)
I actually heard of The Descent before I heard of Dog Soliders, but I was just able to go see it at the theater on Saturday. Though I enjoyed Dog Soldiers, it is obvious that Marshall has grown as both a writer and a director (and that he had a substantially larger budget).
The Descent grabs you by the throat as soon as you walk into the theater and doesn't let you go for the next hour and 33 minutes. This is the story of 6 British girlfriends who, after Sarah (Shauna Macdonald)'s husband and daughter were tragically killed the previous year, decide to travel to the United States and explore a cave. They are all experienced climbers and hikers and have explored caves before; several of them even complain that the cave that leader Juno (Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Moulin Rouge!, TV's "BeastMaster") has picked for them to explore is too easy.
At first, of course, the cave is a great time. Then it starts to become dark and more harrowing and narrow with each passage. There is a cave-in and the girls become lost. Marshall cleverly begins to show dissention among the girls. They slowly begin to distrust Juno's motives for bringing them there. Was she having an affair with Sarah's husband? Why does Sarah continue to have hallucinations of her dead daughter? What is that noise that keeps following them in the dark? The tension builds slowly, but it builds, it builds so much that it almost chokes you with its intensity. I turned to my roommate at one point and said, "You know, they don't even need any monsters. This movie is scary enough with them just down in the dark of this cave."
That was utterly true, but of course, the monsters did come. And when they do show up, they show up. There is no warning whatsoever. They are there. In your face. Biting off heads, blood, gore, pure utter horror. We were literally almost clutching each other at one point. The creatures are blind, as they would be, living 2 miles underground. They know nothing other than eating and killing these alien things that have invaded their homes.
Again, there are nice paralells with other films. There are several moments that recall the Alien films--especially when one of the creatures has Sarah backed up against a wall, smelling her, while others devour her friend Holly (Nora-Jane Noone, Ella Enchanted) and Sarah tries not to vomit or give herself away. Sarah kills a female creature and her child, again paralells with her own story and Aliens.
The title The Descent itself has many meanings. There are now, of course, tons of fangirls/boys online with conspiracy theories, who point to Sarah's "descent" into madness, saying that the creatures don't really exist--that Sarah is the one who goes around and kills all the girls. Or else that it's all a dream and Sarah is in the hospital after her original tragic accident that killed her family. I tend to think that it's just a creature feature, and you all know how I love those.
Adding to the conspiracy theories is the fact that this movie has two different endings. The United States was given a different ending because American audiences supposedly cannot take "depressing" endings to movies and therefore it was made "happier." I think I actually prefer the "sadder" ending, as it ties things up more, and doesn't make Sarah have to live with even more tragedy and horrible things the rest of her life.
I found the original on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJgAj8HbVs Decide for yourself.
There are, of course, nit-picky things about this film I did not like, but I won't spoil any more of it for you. I do think that Neil Marshall has grown as both a horror director and as a writer. The scares this time are less "cheap" than in Dog Soldiers, more thought-out and intelligent. The characters are more widely developed and the setting is more diverse. I, for one, can't wait for 2007 and Doomsday.
4 and a Half Stars out of 5.