Friday night horror: The Windmill (2016)
It's been a while since I last did one of those "Friday night horror film" viewings. I've missed it. <3
So, this Friday night was The Windmill. [IMDB] It's a Dutch slasher film, and while I wouldn't say it's the best I've seen in the genre, it was still a splattery good time.
Though this is a Dutch film, the film's mostly in English - because almost all of the characters are tourists. The general premise is that a tour bus gets stranded in a remote area, where something is lurking in a windmill. That Something turns out to be a demon - previously a human who was burned for witchcraft - who exists to drag sinners through the gate to Hell, which takes the form of the windmill itself.
Kind of silly when one puts it like that, but eh, I can roll with it.
This isn't the goriest film I've ever seen, but I did have to cover my eyes more than once, heh.
I find it difficult to buy the idea that there would be a place suitably remote in the Netherlands within driving distance of Amsterdam, but once the supernatural aspect of the story was revealed, I could chalk it all up to the windmill existing within a liminal space, and move on. But until that reveal, I was kind of skeptical.
My favourite part of the film was definitely the character of the Japanese tourist, Takashi. His transgressions resonated with me, probably because his transgression was very personal, understandable, and realistic. I really appreciated that he was "pardoned" due to showing genuine remorse for his actions. I dunno, I just found him very... I wanted to hug him the whole time, heh. (Also helps that the actor is cute, I confess.) Though, I did find the whole "calling up the ancestors in order to find a way to kill the demon" thing a little bit weird - like, it kind of had overtones of a whole "mystical Asian" kind of thing, and I'm not sure how well what he was doing aligns with actual Japanese tradition. I could be wrong though.
I ALSO didn't like that even though he was pardoned, he was killed anyway! ARRRGH the whole subplot with the evil bus driver drove me nuts! "He takes care of the sinners, I get rid of the innocent" Argh, I didn't like it at all. If it was framed more as making sure that everyone dies because they can't risk anyone surviving to tell about it, then maybe I could buy it. But I still don't like it. (Maybe I'm just too bootyblasted about that dude killing Takashi, pfff. Who knows.)
And the immortality... thing... yeah, I didn't like that either. Okay, so the evil bus driver pastes his ripped jugular with demonic flour from the windmill in order to survive that injury? Yeah, sure. Pull the other one. Maybe I would have been able to accept it if the immortality angle had been hinted at more, but it seemed like kind of an asspull. It's obviously a sequel hook, and I can understand why they did that, but I don't have to like it. Though I will say that I do like the way the final scenes were filmed - the bus (now fully upright and out of the canal), the bag of flour, the reappearance in Amsterdam and people getting onto it.... It was framed well, and composed really nicely. But arrrgh I didn't want that creepy asshat to survive!
Overall, though, I did like this film a lot. The setting was refreshing, the setup was something that I hadn't quite seen before, and am I ever a sucker for scenarios that draw together a bunch of different people from widely varied backgrounds, all with their own stories and baggage. I can see myself watching this one again, I think.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3541341.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
So, this Friday night was The Windmill. [IMDB] It's a Dutch slasher film, and while I wouldn't say it's the best I've seen in the genre, it was still a splattery good time.
Though this is a Dutch film, the film's mostly in English - because almost all of the characters are tourists. The general premise is that a tour bus gets stranded in a remote area, where something is lurking in a windmill. That Something turns out to be a demon - previously a human who was burned for witchcraft - who exists to drag sinners through the gate to Hell, which takes the form of the windmill itself.
Kind of silly when one puts it like that, but eh, I can roll with it.
This isn't the goriest film I've ever seen, but I did have to cover my eyes more than once, heh.
I find it difficult to buy the idea that there would be a place suitably remote in the Netherlands within driving distance of Amsterdam, but once the supernatural aspect of the story was revealed, I could chalk it all up to the windmill existing within a liminal space, and move on. But until that reveal, I was kind of skeptical.
My favourite part of the film was definitely the character of the Japanese tourist, Takashi. His transgressions resonated with me, probably because his transgression was very personal, understandable, and realistic. I really appreciated that he was "pardoned" due to showing genuine remorse for his actions. I dunno, I just found him very... I wanted to hug him the whole time, heh. (Also helps that the actor is cute, I confess.) Though, I did find the whole "calling up the ancestors in order to find a way to kill the demon" thing a little bit weird - like, it kind of had overtones of a whole "mystical Asian" kind of thing, and I'm not sure how well what he was doing aligns with actual Japanese tradition. I could be wrong though.
I ALSO didn't like that even though he was pardoned, he was killed anyway! ARRRGH the whole subplot with the evil bus driver drove me nuts! "He takes care of the sinners, I get rid of the innocent" Argh, I didn't like it at all. If it was framed more as making sure that everyone dies because they can't risk anyone surviving to tell about it, then maybe I could buy it. But I still don't like it. (Maybe I'm just too bootyblasted about that dude killing Takashi, pfff. Who knows.)
And the immortality... thing... yeah, I didn't like that either. Okay, so the evil bus driver pastes his ripped jugular with demonic flour from the windmill in order to survive that injury? Yeah, sure. Pull the other one. Maybe I would have been able to accept it if the immortality angle had been hinted at more, but it seemed like kind of an asspull. It's obviously a sequel hook, and I can understand why they did that, but I don't have to like it. Though I will say that I do like the way the final scenes were filmed - the bus (now fully upright and out of the canal), the bag of flour, the reappearance in Amsterdam and people getting onto it.... It was framed well, and composed really nicely. But arrrgh I didn't want that creepy asshat to survive!
Overall, though, I did like this film a lot. The setting was refreshing, the setup was something that I hadn't quite seen before, and am I ever a sucker for scenarios that draw together a bunch of different people from widely varied backgrounds, all with their own stories and baggage. I can see myself watching this one again, I think.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3541341.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.