Note: This review is part of my coverage of Horrorfest II.
Mulberry St
This was an unsettling title. Very tense throughout, and conveys a real sense of place. It's in every aspect a New York City film. You can just feel the lifeblood of the city in it. A handful of characters are introduced, living much less than perfect lives in the city, before everything starts going to hell. Some kind of infection breaks out in Manhattan under the sewers, and it's spread from rats to people. The bizarre thing is that it turns people into some kind of ravenous rat creature. They gradually grow ratlike features and start feeding on human flesh. Kind of like an American 28 Days Later with rats.
You get to see people start to panic as the infection spreads; the news reports get more and more frantic before going out all together; and then the survivors are left to fend for their very lives trying to fight off the hordes of hungry ratpeople. Among the important characters there's a very serious female soldier returning from service, trying to make it back to her father (I believe) as the chaos spreads; the father, a pretty adept boxer with a courageous heart; a mother and son - the mother who works at a nearby bar; and various other tenants of the cramped apartment complex the story focuses on.
It's a very gritty film. I was kind of confused by a certain group of kids in the audience who kept giggling at all the scenes of brutal violence. Maybe they were high, maybe they just thought the idea of ratpeople invading New York City was too ridiculous (actually, doesn't it seem almost too real?), but I feel like we should be more concerned about the people that take that kind of material so lightly than those who surround themselves with it but treat it the way it demands. Some parts are humorous in a stark and natural way, but the film is very serious and no-nonsense. The ending is not happy. Just think what the government would do in that situation. The infection is confined to an island, and very few survivors are left. Better take the safe route out, right? Just don't tell the rest of the public about the unsavory bits.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Lake Dead (2007)
Note: This review is part of my coverage of Horrorfest II.
Lake Dead
This film was entertaining. Not great, but entertaining. Certainly better than Unearthed. I'd call it something of a cross between Friday The 13th (slasher set in the woods/camping) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (messed up family that preys on the unlucky who stumble into their web) - or any other film that does the inbred family horror shtick. As a slasher, it delivers on the sex, drugs, and the violence. The victims were your typical modern hotshot teens, and the killers were your typical messed-up inbred family. Though, if you ask them, they'll tell you that their blood is "pure". Apparently, nobody in that family ever passed genetics.
Well, it turns out the one that got away from the family had a couple daughters, and now, with the death of the grandfather, those daughters have inherited the family motel. They bring a handful of friends up for a weekend of camping to decide what to do with it (expecting to decide upon selling it), but instead, they get a crash course in genealogy. Mama has no intention of giving up the motel, and furthermore, she needs those daughters to continue the family line, to keep it "pure". All she's got left at the moment is the "Bruiser Brothers" (as I like to call them), Cain and Abel, and the slightly more human (at least in appearance) self-serving sheriff. The daughters are captured for breeding, and their friends are killed off until they manage to fight back and thin out the branches of the family tree.
Pretty straightforward. As I said, not great, but entertaining. I found it curious, for whatever reason, that although the sisters looked similar, both being blonde, they were clearly not natural blondes. I guess their dying habits run in the family. (oooh)
Lake Dead
This film was entertaining. Not great, but entertaining. Certainly better than Unearthed. I'd call it something of a cross between Friday The 13th (slasher set in the woods/camping) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (messed up family that preys on the unlucky who stumble into their web) - or any other film that does the inbred family horror shtick. As a slasher, it delivers on the sex, drugs, and the violence. The victims were your typical modern hotshot teens, and the killers were your typical messed-up inbred family. Though, if you ask them, they'll tell you that their blood is "pure". Apparently, nobody in that family ever passed genetics.
Well, it turns out the one that got away from the family had a couple daughters, and now, with the death of the grandfather, those daughters have inherited the family motel. They bring a handful of friends up for a weekend of camping to decide what to do with it (expecting to decide upon selling it), but instead, they get a crash course in genealogy. Mama has no intention of giving up the motel, and furthermore, she needs those daughters to continue the family line, to keep it "pure". All she's got left at the moment is the "Bruiser Brothers" (as I like to call them), Cain and Abel, and the slightly more human (at least in appearance) self-serving sheriff. The daughters are captured for breeding, and their friends are killed off until they manage to fight back and thin out the branches of the family tree.
Pretty straightforward. As I said, not great, but entertaining. I found it curious, for whatever reason, that although the sisters looked similar, both being blonde, they were clearly not natural blondes. I guess their dying habits run in the family. (oooh)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Deaths of Ian Stone (2007)
Note: This review is part of my coverage of Horrorfest II.
The Deaths Of Ian Stone
From the scant pre-press I heard, it sounded like this was the most interesting, original, and anticipated of this year's Horrorfest films. It certainly has a lot going for it, though ultimately I'm not about to judge it as a masterpiece. It's really a bit of a sci-fi/horror. The premise is that a man named Ian Stone finds that, for some reason, he dies every day, and wakes up the next day in a completely different life. Now this doesn't even hint at the sci-fi undertones going on. The reality is that Ian is a Harvester, though he's forgotten. The Harvesters are a race of entities that have a lot of power to manipulate reality. They usually appear to people in the form of a sinister shadowy figure, and they feed off of people's fear. Somewhere along the line, they got into feeding off of pain, and learned that the anticipation of a violent death is the greatest source of man's fear. So that's what they like to go for to get nourishment. Well, at least one Harvester has found a different emotion to feed on, and it's called love. He backs out of the game, but the Harvesters try to pull him back in. He'll have to regain his memory and extract enough power from love to be able to kill even the Harvesters, who are not supposed to be able to die. Who will prevail?
Something that bugs me about this film is how it feels like a thinly veiled warning against drug addiction. And I'm not sure if that level of symbolism actually enriches the film, or just cheapens it. More than once you see a "Say No To Drugs" advertisement "inconspicuously" placed in the film. The Harvesters' feeding on fear is described a lot like getting a hit, and their desire to get Ian back among their ranks, and to destroy the girl that has shown him a brighter existence, seems a lot like a group of junkies struggling to keep you in the habit, to deny you of the light they aren't strong enough to reach for themselves. Furthermore, as Ian weakens from life to life, having gone a while without feeding, he slowly gravitates towards a drug-adled existence. He starts out as a Hockey player - athletic, healthy. Then he becomes an office worker with an arthouse girlfriend - one step closer to the "hip" scene. He says he just quit "the pipe". Then he becomes an unemployed bum, even closer to the streets. Finally, he gets to be an actual junkie. And then he ends up an invalid strapped to a hospital bed, vulnerable to the Harvesters' torture. But of course love will make him clean in the end, and give him the power to conquer the Harvesters, to push them out of his life, and destroy their influence over him. Are you seeing the parable?
Anyhow, it was still a good film, all moral issues aside. The idea of living a different life each day, and dying every time is fascinating, and I feel like it could be used for an even better story, if taken in a different direction. Still, the Harvesters were pretty cool, with shadowy tendrils that form into thick blades. And I liked their vinyl outfits. They're no Cenobites, though. Some aspects of the movie had a vaguely Jacob's Ladder kind of feel. Particularly in the way the Harvesters shake their heads back and forth after they absorb some fear. And the whole feeling of knowing something's not right in your life but not understanding what exactly is wrong. It's no competition, however.
I don't know that there was any ultra-explicit material in this film. The whole thing had more tension and atmosphere, though, compared to Unearthed, which just kind of blasted you with a lot of sound and flashing lights during the action sequences, leaving you to guess what was actually happening (and not in the, "ooh, I can't see what he's doing, it must be terrible!" kind of way). Certainly, the moral of the story is well-adjusted enough. The only trouble with it being an "after-school special" is that most kids can't handle this kind of horror material. Oh well.
The Deaths Of Ian Stone
From the scant pre-press I heard, it sounded like this was the most interesting, original, and anticipated of this year's Horrorfest films. It certainly has a lot going for it, though ultimately I'm not about to judge it as a masterpiece. It's really a bit of a sci-fi/horror. The premise is that a man named Ian Stone finds that, for some reason, he dies every day, and wakes up the next day in a completely different life. Now this doesn't even hint at the sci-fi undertones going on. The reality is that Ian is a Harvester, though he's forgotten. The Harvesters are a race of entities that have a lot of power to manipulate reality. They usually appear to people in the form of a sinister shadowy figure, and they feed off of people's fear. Somewhere along the line, they got into feeding off of pain, and learned that the anticipation of a violent death is the greatest source of man's fear. So that's what they like to go for to get nourishment. Well, at least one Harvester has found a different emotion to feed on, and it's called love. He backs out of the game, but the Harvesters try to pull him back in. He'll have to regain his memory and extract enough power from love to be able to kill even the Harvesters, who are not supposed to be able to die. Who will prevail?
Something that bugs me about this film is how it feels like a thinly veiled warning against drug addiction. And I'm not sure if that level of symbolism actually enriches the film, or just cheapens it. More than once you see a "Say No To Drugs" advertisement "inconspicuously" placed in the film. The Harvesters' feeding on fear is described a lot like getting a hit, and their desire to get Ian back among their ranks, and to destroy the girl that has shown him a brighter existence, seems a lot like a group of junkies struggling to keep you in the habit, to deny you of the light they aren't strong enough to reach for themselves. Furthermore, as Ian weakens from life to life, having gone a while without feeding, he slowly gravitates towards a drug-adled existence. He starts out as a Hockey player - athletic, healthy. Then he becomes an office worker with an arthouse girlfriend - one step closer to the "hip" scene. He says he just quit "the pipe". Then he becomes an unemployed bum, even closer to the streets. Finally, he gets to be an actual junkie. And then he ends up an invalid strapped to a hospital bed, vulnerable to the Harvesters' torture. But of course love will make him clean in the end, and give him the power to conquer the Harvesters, to push them out of his life, and destroy their influence over him. Are you seeing the parable?
Anyhow, it was still a good film, all moral issues aside. The idea of living a different life each day, and dying every time is fascinating, and I feel like it could be used for an even better story, if taken in a different direction. Still, the Harvesters were pretty cool, with shadowy tendrils that form into thick blades. And I liked their vinyl outfits. They're no Cenobites, though. Some aspects of the movie had a vaguely Jacob's Ladder kind of feel. Particularly in the way the Harvesters shake their heads back and forth after they absorb some fear. And the whole feeling of knowing something's not right in your life but not understanding what exactly is wrong. It's no competition, however.
I don't know that there was any ultra-explicit material in this film. The whole thing had more tension and atmosphere, though, compared to Unearthed, which just kind of blasted you with a lot of sound and flashing lights during the action sequences, leaving you to guess what was actually happening (and not in the, "ooh, I can't see what he's doing, it must be terrible!" kind of way). Certainly, the moral of the story is well-adjusted enough. The only trouble with it being an "after-school special" is that most kids can't handle this kind of horror material. Oh well.
Unearthed (2007)
Note: This review is part of my coverage of Horrorfest II.
Unearthed
Unfortunately, this movie works a lot better on paper. It's an interesting story, but it comes off as being quite an amateur production. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but there's good amateur, and there's bad amateur. Let's take a look at what we're dealing with first. Here's the backstory: an alien was sent to collect DNA samples from all sorts of Earth life. Despite being a rather hideous creature, it supposedly lived in peace with the Anasazi tribe for awhile, until for some reason they tried poisoning it with a Uranium trailmix. The creature annihilated the tribe and somehow (I'm not clear on all the details) ended up encased in the Earth for many years. Until now, when it's been unearthed.
This movie owes a lot to Tremors (the setting of an isolated desert town attacked by an ancient monster), the X-Files (gooey alien in the desert with ties to Indian tribes), and the Aliens series (although the monster isn't nearly as similar to the xenomorph as you may have heard, it is true that one scene in particular was lifted straight out of Alien 3). It's too bad it doesn't live up to any of those titles. The action is way too hyperactive, the actors are less than convincing, and the shaky camera which starts out appropriately in the action sequences begins to seep into every scene. It really gets ridiculous. The shaky camera effect might be effective when you want the audience to believe the footage is being shot on a camera, for example by one of the characters. But when you're doing plain as day normal shots, pan & scan, anything, and it's all shaky as all get-out, it really makes you think that this was filmed by an amateur in somebody's backyard. The monster's CG motion shots were obvious, as well.
In addition to that, some things just seem hard to swallow. There's an apparently Australian roughneck archaeologist who, despite not being a criminal or a doctor, doesn't seem to have any problems tearing into a freshly dead body with a huge bowie knife, looking for alien worms. The truck driver who gets to be the first kill loves his dogs so much, that not only does he wear a t-shirt with his two dogs pictured on the front, but he also makes his dogs each wear a doggy shirt with a picture of his face on it. (Rolls eyes). Another thing that bugged me is how a single tanker sprawled across the road is able to isolate the entire freaking town. Maybe it's possible, but gee...I was pretty sure that road was a throughway, considering the trucker regularly passed through the town, not to mention the travelers who happen upon the town trying to get further west. Shouldn't there at least be a second way out? Curiously, the sheriff in this story is a 20-year old female alcoholic. She was involved in some kind of tragic accident where an Indian girl died, but even by the end, when they actually let the flashback play out, you're still not exactly sure what happened. Supposedly, she didn't kill the girl, but took the fall for it. Who was she trying to protect? Why would she throw her dream away for that? Needless to say, the whole town hates her and is prepared to vote her out of the job at the next town meeting.
I dunno what to say. The execution just doesn't do the idea justice. Yeah, it was interesting to see, but I would have to say that I don't recommend it, primarily for the shaky camera work alone. It's just the principle of it. Who watched this movie and okay'ed the shooting for it? The only answer is no budget. Well it's too bad they couldn't find somebody with a steadier arm. I'll bet the cameraman must have drunk as much as the sheriff character was notorious for. I feel bad ripping on this title, I mean it's not like it ruined my experience or anything, I still had fun. It's just that you win some and you lose some.
I know Horrorfest's "too graphic for regular audiences" claim has been debunked, and this movie is bad enough not to get a regular screening on that basis alone, but if I had to pick out a reason why this movie might be deemed "too graphic" it would definitely be for the explicit scenes of evisceral gore - human and bovine.
Unearthed
Unfortunately, this movie works a lot better on paper. It's an interesting story, but it comes off as being quite an amateur production. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but there's good amateur, and there's bad amateur. Let's take a look at what we're dealing with first. Here's the backstory: an alien was sent to collect DNA samples from all sorts of Earth life. Despite being a rather hideous creature, it supposedly lived in peace with the Anasazi tribe for awhile, until for some reason they tried poisoning it with a Uranium trailmix. The creature annihilated the tribe and somehow (I'm not clear on all the details) ended up encased in the Earth for many years. Until now, when it's been unearthed.
This movie owes a lot to Tremors (the setting of an isolated desert town attacked by an ancient monster), the X-Files (gooey alien in the desert with ties to Indian tribes), and the Aliens series (although the monster isn't nearly as similar to the xenomorph as you may have heard, it is true that one scene in particular was lifted straight out of Alien 3). It's too bad it doesn't live up to any of those titles. The action is way too hyperactive, the actors are less than convincing, and the shaky camera which starts out appropriately in the action sequences begins to seep into every scene. It really gets ridiculous. The shaky camera effect might be effective when you want the audience to believe the footage is being shot on a camera, for example by one of the characters. But when you're doing plain as day normal shots, pan & scan, anything, and it's all shaky as all get-out, it really makes you think that this was filmed by an amateur in somebody's backyard. The monster's CG motion shots were obvious, as well.
In addition to that, some things just seem hard to swallow. There's an apparently Australian roughneck archaeologist who, despite not being a criminal or a doctor, doesn't seem to have any problems tearing into a freshly dead body with a huge bowie knife, looking for alien worms. The truck driver who gets to be the first kill loves his dogs so much, that not only does he wear a t-shirt with his two dogs pictured on the front, but he also makes his dogs each wear a doggy shirt with a picture of his face on it. (Rolls eyes). Another thing that bugged me is how a single tanker sprawled across the road is able to isolate the entire freaking town. Maybe it's possible, but gee...I was pretty sure that road was a throughway, considering the trucker regularly passed through the town, not to mention the travelers who happen upon the town trying to get further west. Shouldn't there at least be a second way out? Curiously, the sheriff in this story is a 20-year old female alcoholic. She was involved in some kind of tragic accident where an Indian girl died, but even by the end, when they actually let the flashback play out, you're still not exactly sure what happened. Supposedly, she didn't kill the girl, but took the fall for it. Who was she trying to protect? Why would she throw her dream away for that? Needless to say, the whole town hates her and is prepared to vote her out of the job at the next town meeting.
I dunno what to say. The execution just doesn't do the idea justice. Yeah, it was interesting to see, but I would have to say that I don't recommend it, primarily for the shaky camera work alone. It's just the principle of it. Who watched this movie and okay'ed the shooting for it? The only answer is no budget. Well it's too bad they couldn't find somebody with a steadier arm. I'll bet the cameraman must have drunk as much as the sheriff character was notorious for. I feel bad ripping on this title, I mean it's not like it ruined my experience or anything, I still had fun. It's just that you win some and you lose some.
I know Horrorfest's "too graphic for regular audiences" claim has been debunked, and this movie is bad enough not to get a regular screening on that basis alone, but if I had to pick out a reason why this movie might be deemed "too graphic" it would definitely be for the explicit scenes of evisceral gore - human and bovine.
Horrorfest II (2007)
Note: This review was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.
Night 1 - Setup: Waterfront Theatre was nice. There was a lot more cars on my way out (around 10) than on my way in (around 6). I was surprised that the screen dedicated to Horrorfest was such a small room. I counted only 85 seats. But, to be fair, there were less than 15 people in each of the two showings I caught tonight. Hey, I like smaller crowds, but I hope a) Horrorfest doesn't go out of business, and b) the Waterfront doesn't join the Destinta in believing that Horrorfest isn't worth the commitment. There was at least one other group, a woman and a younger girl, who stayed on for both of the showings I saw, and one person at the end of the second showing I caught commented on the film using the phrase "this one", suggesting that she had seen other Horrorfest titles. Just exciting to know that people are getting into the festival experience and not just happening to catch one on a whim.
Unearthed
The Deaths of Ian Stone
Night 2 - My second day of Horrorfest was a lot of fun, and the average quality of films was definitely higher. There were also more people, this being a Saturday night. I got a chance to dine at Uno's, which is on the Waterfront. That was a treat, since Uno's is one of the best restaurants ever, and I don't often get a chance to eat there. Then it was an evening of three films to die for! And the best part - I think I've found my favorite for this year's festival! There's still three films to go, but I have a good feeling about this one. (FYI, my favorite from last year was The Abandoned).
Lake Dead
Mulberry St
Tooth And Nail
Night 3
Nightmare Man
Crazy Eights
Borderland
Conclusion: I'm still gonna say Tooth And Nail is my pick for favorite. Overall, I had a great time at Horrorfest this year, and, it's kinda hard to tell but, I'm tempted to say the quality of this year's films was a little bit better than last year, despite what anyone might tell you. I've heard that the fest has been doing a lot worse than last year, in terms of box office sales, but I don't know all the details. I do hope that Horrorfest returns next year, though. It's great fun for a horror fan, and though the quality of the films varies, I have yet to be disappointed in the overall experience. So here's to next year!
Night 1 - Setup: Waterfront Theatre was nice. There was a lot more cars on my way out (around 10) than on my way in (around 6). I was surprised that the screen dedicated to Horrorfest was such a small room. I counted only 85 seats. But, to be fair, there were less than 15 people in each of the two showings I caught tonight. Hey, I like smaller crowds, but I hope a) Horrorfest doesn't go out of business, and b) the Waterfront doesn't join the Destinta in believing that Horrorfest isn't worth the commitment. There was at least one other group, a woman and a younger girl, who stayed on for both of the showings I saw, and one person at the end of the second showing I caught commented on the film using the phrase "this one", suggesting that she had seen other Horrorfest titles. Just exciting to know that people are getting into the festival experience and not just happening to catch one on a whim.
Unearthed
The Deaths of Ian Stone
Night 2 - My second day of Horrorfest was a lot of fun, and the average quality of films was definitely higher. There were also more people, this being a Saturday night. I got a chance to dine at Uno's, which is on the Waterfront. That was a treat, since Uno's is one of the best restaurants ever, and I don't often get a chance to eat there. Then it was an evening of three films to die for! And the best part - I think I've found my favorite for this year's festival! There's still three films to go, but I have a good feeling about this one. (FYI, my favorite from last year was The Abandoned).
Lake Dead
Mulberry St
Tooth And Nail
Night 3
Nightmare Man
Crazy Eights
Borderland
Conclusion: I'm still gonna say Tooth And Nail is my pick for favorite. Overall, I had a great time at Horrorfest this year, and, it's kinda hard to tell but, I'm tempted to say the quality of this year's films was a little bit better than last year, despite what anyone might tell you. I've heard that the fest has been doing a lot worse than last year, in terms of box office sales, but I don't know all the details. I do hope that Horrorfest returns next year, though. It's great fun for a horror fan, and though the quality of the films varies, I have yet to be disappointed in the overall experience. So here's to next year!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Best Horror Movies of All Time
Note: This feature was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.
The Best Horror Movies of All Time!
I wasn't a huge horror fan growing up. Other kids my age would talk about all these scary movies they'd watch - Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one I specifically remember them mentioning - but I was always out of the loop. It's not that I had a specific aversion to horror, it's just that, like many things in my childhood, the opportunity never really presented itself to me. And I wasn't really the type to carpe the diem.
At the ripe old age of 18ish, my horror obsession began to bloom (along with other things). It wasn't my first exposure to horror cinema, but it did mark a turning point where I slowly began to recognize my interest in the genre, and gradually began to associate myself with the term "horror fan". I like to attribute this change to the movie 28 Days Later, but in truth there were other films that played an important role. Still, seeing 28 Days Later was an iconic moment for me. It helps that I saw it in the theatre, and that it was such a damn good movie.
So enough of the background, whether you're already aware of my love of horror or not, you might be asking yourself, particularly at this time of the year, "what is zharth's favorite horror movies?" Well, you're in luck, because I'm about to tell you! Comments are appreciated. Feel free to make a list of your own, as well. After all, it's Shocktober, and this is what the month's all about!
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Although this list isn't specifically in order, this movie tops it by default, being not only one of my favorite horror movies, but one of my all-time favorite movies, period. I first saw it on television one October during high school age. I actually missed the very beginning, but from the strobe light dance rave scene, I was hooked. The movie is just fantastic. The atmosphere throughout is beautifully creepy. The demons are so well done...the problem with a lot of monster movies is that the monsters are either not scary, or look obviously fake. The demons in Jacob's Ladder are both real and terrifying. Plus, the whole movie is very artistically shot. And the psychological angle plays with your mind, something I thoroughly enjoy when I want to be entertained. I liked this movie for a lot of the same reasons I later became attached to the Silent Hill video game franchise. Psychological demon horror. And the issues of life and death and what to believe, who to trust. Masterpiece. One of my favorite non-demon scenes is when Jacob is lying in the bathtub, and the camera ever so slowly pans outward. Beautiful.
Aliens Trilogy (1979/1986/1992)
Here's the bottom line: I had serious nightmares about xenomorphs throughout my childhood. Maybe I'm making a leap here, but it might actually have something to do with the insomniac symptoms I sometimes experience. There was a period when I was deathly afraid of being the last person to fall asleep. That feeling of being alone, like as if the people sleeping were as good as dead, or just nonexistant. It was rather frightening. Course, now I feel great comfort in being the only person awake or around at any given time. I do still have a bothersome fear of arachnids, however, and I'm not 100% sure if it's a result of the xenomorphs or vice-versa. Bottom line is, xenomorphs freaked me out.
I have only a vague recollection of watching Alien for the first time. It must have been a summer evening, because I remember it was light out pretty late, until after dinner. Alien came on, I think before it even got dark, and I watched it in the living room. I don't remember much more about that experience, but when I think back on the way I used to view the Alien films, I can feel the fear deep in my gut. Even if it's not an entirely pleasant feeling, I respect things that can make me feel so strongly. As much as it scared me, I don't remember ever actually hating the films. I quite loved the sequel. And was still very scared by it.
Nowadays, though it's still pretty creepy, it doesn't freak me out near as much, but I can still respect it as a masterpiece of sci-fi horror. It goes back to that whole believability thing. The sci-fi atmosphere - in that ship, on the planet, the aliens themselves - they don't look or feel like sci-fi toys. And the seriousness of it all - this isn't a bunch of geeks getting off to wild hallucinated fantasies of intergalactic travel and bizarre alien lifeforms - this is seriously scary shit. I've probably always respected that aspect of it, too, even if not always consciously. H.R. Giger absolutely deserves some credit here. I still consider the xenomorph to be the perfect lifeform - in terms of perfect terror.
28 Days/Weeks Later (2002/2007)
There are very few films that I can credit for single-handedly getting me interested in a whole new musical genre. 28 Days Later introduced me to "post-rock", via the Sad Mafioso portion of East Hastings, a song by Godspeed You! Black Emperor used in the film's best scene. A man wakes up in a hospital, apparently coming out of a coma. The building is completely abandoned. Not a soul around. It's quiet. The man goes outside. The whole city is dead. Like as if everyone had just vanished. The man walks through town, not finding any life or signs of life, but finding clues that something very terrible has happened. And he managed to survive through it, while unconscious. Only to waken to an empty, lifeless, post-apocalyptic world. Panic sets in. Then he finds signs of life. But that's when the true terror begins.
A truly brilliant movie, which raises the bar impossibly high for the sub-genre of zombie horror. Even so, the sequel was every bit as good. Maybe even better. And a third installment is planned for sometime in the future. I hope to one day be able to refer to "the 28 trilogy" alongside "the aliens trilogy", but until then, these are two truly great horror movies for my collection.
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)
Quite possibly the greatest movie remake ever made. Stranded in an antarctic research facility with an unknown terror, likely not from this earth. That's a good start for a horror film, but what really makes this move unique is a combination of two factors, among other things. The first is the special effects. Some might say they went a little overboard, but I think the fx are not only iconic, terrifying, and memorable, but also suit the nature of The Thing perfectly. The other factor that serves this movie is the paranoia. Being cooped up for extended periods at the ends of the earth is one thing, but having to face a monster that has no true form, and can perfectly imitate other life forms, really tests your trust in the people around you. Any one of them could be a monster, and they wouldn't know, until it's too late. This is definitely my favorite of John Carpenter's films.
The Descent (2005)
Spelunking can be quite terrifying on its own, when things go wrong. Being stuck below the ground, afraid that your lights will run out, and that you'll be buried alive. Throw in an underground colony of carnivorous cave-creeps, and you've got yourself a horror movie. Better yet, The Descent boasts a nearly all-female cast. There's even a psychological aspect which parallels the descent into the earth with a descent into madness. This film is a sparkling jewel of modern horror.
Hellraiser (1987)
I only saw this movie and the first of its sequels a year ago, but I really dig its style. Sadomasochistic demons who are summoned from hell by solving a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration, to give the solver a chance to experience the ultimate in pain and pleasure. Awesome. These demons, the Cenobytes, are considered angels by some, demons to others. It's only a matter of perspective. Most well-adjusted citizens would consider them demons, however. The design of the Cenobytes (including the iconic Pinhead) as well as 'The Engineer' are awesomely creepy. Sometimes it just comes down to a matter of style, and I like Hellraiser's attitude. (P.S. You might as well throw in the sequel, Hellbound, as it's required viewing for any Hellraiser fan - I still, regrettably, haven't seen the rest of the titles in the series, though).
The Exorcist (1973)
I still remember the first time I saw this film. I was relatively young. I remember staying in the house, probably on Halloween night, maybe after trick 'r treating, and watching some horror movies that my mom had picked out for us. I remember watching The Exorcist that night. All I can remember thinking about it, after it was finished, was how gruesome it was. I didn't necessarily register it as a "good" movie at the time, but I was absolutely affected by it, and I respected its ability to thoroughly shake up the core of my being. I had never seen a film anything like that before. A lot of people praise this movie, and rightfully so. It manages to pull off the religious horror angle flawlessly. Very disturbing.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
A lot of people give this movie flak, but for me, the bottom line is that I thought it was terrifying. It might not be so scary if I sat down and watched it again, but first impressions are the most important, right? Being out in the middle of the woods, in the dark, and hearing strange noises, then having people disappear. That kind of situation speaks to me. Anyone who's ever been camping before, sleeping in tents, sitting around the campfire at night, particularly as an impressionable child, can identify with the fear that the Blair Witch Project invokes. And at its heart, it's an exhibition of the fear of the unknown. A true "let your imagination fill in the scary bits" kind of film. And even if it wasn't actually real, it did feel more real than most horror movies do.
Fire In The Sky (1993)
I don't know just how many alien abduction movies there are. In fact, I'd be willing to bet there are plenty more "space invaders" type alien movies than alien abduction types. But I suppose that's irrelevant. It seems to have cooled off mostly, but there was a period of time, I wanna say it was focused around the 90's (probably concurrent with the X-Files phenomenon), that a specific kind of alien scare was prevalent. The fear of being abducted, taken right out of your bed at night, and being subjected to horrifying experiments while in the presence of strange beings that look almost like man, but different enough to freak you out. And the fact that all of this could even happen without you remembering it, until those memories resurface, perhaps during hypnosis. Yeah, it's pretty far-fetched, but there was a time when it didn't seem so unreal. At least not to me. And it was, at one time, one of my biggest fears. Once again, I don't know if seeing Fire In The Sky prompted that, or if the movie was so frightening because of that fear, but the end result is that this movie terrified me more than most I saw during my childhood. I couldn't even look at the aliens for fear of their faces haunting my dreams. And the most unsettling part is that the movie was allegedly based on a true story...
Jurassic Park (1993)
I know it feels more like a "big Hollywood action/adventure" type movie than a horror movie, but if Jaws counts as horror, then so too does Jurassic Park. Besides, at least for a child, Jurassic Park was pretty darn scary. It was also one of the films that I saw the most times in the theatre. I don't remember what the count was, but I must have seen it at least 8 times while it was still running. Dinosaurs can be pretty scary, and this is probably the most well-made dinosaur film I've ever seen.
Carnosaur (1993) [and quite possibly its sequels]
It would be unfair to list Jurassic Park and not mention Carnosaur. Carnosaur is almost certainly scarier, but I didn't have the advantage of seeing it at the same young age I saw Jurassic Park. Even though its budget can't compare to that of JP, Carnosaur is pretty damn awesome for a B movie. And its dinosaurs are first and foremost horror creatures, and only secondarily prehistoric lifeforms. I need to watch these movies again.
And at this point, the horror titles start coming up in your memory faster and faster - too fast to comment on them all - and you realize that you've probably listed the cream of the crop already anyway. So I'll finish it with a brief Honorable Mentions list.
Honorable Mentions:
Black Christmas (1974)
Halloween (1978)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Friday The 13th (1980)
Carrie (1976)
The Shining (1980)
Night of the Lepus (1972)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Ju-on/The Grudge (2002)
I hereby reserve the right to glaring omissions.
The Best Horror Movies of All Time!
I wasn't a huge horror fan growing up. Other kids my age would talk about all these scary movies they'd watch - Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one I specifically remember them mentioning - but I was always out of the loop. It's not that I had a specific aversion to horror, it's just that, like many things in my childhood, the opportunity never really presented itself to me. And I wasn't really the type to carpe the diem.
At the ripe old age of 18ish, my horror obsession began to bloom (along with other things). It wasn't my first exposure to horror cinema, but it did mark a turning point where I slowly began to recognize my interest in the genre, and gradually began to associate myself with the term "horror fan". I like to attribute this change to the movie 28 Days Later, but in truth there were other films that played an important role. Still, seeing 28 Days Later was an iconic moment for me. It helps that I saw it in the theatre, and that it was such a damn good movie.
So enough of the background, whether you're already aware of my love of horror or not, you might be asking yourself, particularly at this time of the year, "what is zharth's favorite horror movies?" Well, you're in luck, because I'm about to tell you! Comments are appreciated. Feel free to make a list of your own, as well. After all, it's Shocktober, and this is what the month's all about!
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Although this list isn't specifically in order, this movie tops it by default, being not only one of my favorite horror movies, but one of my all-time favorite movies, period. I first saw it on television one October during high school age. I actually missed the very beginning, but from the strobe light dance rave scene, I was hooked. The movie is just fantastic. The atmosphere throughout is beautifully creepy. The demons are so well done...the problem with a lot of monster movies is that the monsters are either not scary, or look obviously fake. The demons in Jacob's Ladder are both real and terrifying. Plus, the whole movie is very artistically shot. And the psychological angle plays with your mind, something I thoroughly enjoy when I want to be entertained. I liked this movie for a lot of the same reasons I later became attached to the Silent Hill video game franchise. Psychological demon horror. And the issues of life and death and what to believe, who to trust. Masterpiece. One of my favorite non-demon scenes is when Jacob is lying in the bathtub, and the camera ever so slowly pans outward. Beautiful.
Aliens Trilogy (1979/1986/1992)
Here's the bottom line: I had serious nightmares about xenomorphs throughout my childhood. Maybe I'm making a leap here, but it might actually have something to do with the insomniac symptoms I sometimes experience. There was a period when I was deathly afraid of being the last person to fall asleep. That feeling of being alone, like as if the people sleeping were as good as dead, or just nonexistant. It was rather frightening. Course, now I feel great comfort in being the only person awake or around at any given time. I do still have a bothersome fear of arachnids, however, and I'm not 100% sure if it's a result of the xenomorphs or vice-versa. Bottom line is, xenomorphs freaked me out.
I have only a vague recollection of watching Alien for the first time. It must have been a summer evening, because I remember it was light out pretty late, until after dinner. Alien came on, I think before it even got dark, and I watched it in the living room. I don't remember much more about that experience, but when I think back on the way I used to view the Alien films, I can feel the fear deep in my gut. Even if it's not an entirely pleasant feeling, I respect things that can make me feel so strongly. As much as it scared me, I don't remember ever actually hating the films. I quite loved the sequel. And was still very scared by it.
Nowadays, though it's still pretty creepy, it doesn't freak me out near as much, but I can still respect it as a masterpiece of sci-fi horror. It goes back to that whole believability thing. The sci-fi atmosphere - in that ship, on the planet, the aliens themselves - they don't look or feel like sci-fi toys. And the seriousness of it all - this isn't a bunch of geeks getting off to wild hallucinated fantasies of intergalactic travel and bizarre alien lifeforms - this is seriously scary shit. I've probably always respected that aspect of it, too, even if not always consciously. H.R. Giger absolutely deserves some credit here. I still consider the xenomorph to be the perfect lifeform - in terms of perfect terror.
28 Days/Weeks Later (2002/2007)
There are very few films that I can credit for single-handedly getting me interested in a whole new musical genre. 28 Days Later introduced me to "post-rock", via the Sad Mafioso portion of East Hastings, a song by Godspeed You! Black Emperor used in the film's best scene. A man wakes up in a hospital, apparently coming out of a coma. The building is completely abandoned. Not a soul around. It's quiet. The man goes outside. The whole city is dead. Like as if everyone had just vanished. The man walks through town, not finding any life or signs of life, but finding clues that something very terrible has happened. And he managed to survive through it, while unconscious. Only to waken to an empty, lifeless, post-apocalyptic world. Panic sets in. Then he finds signs of life. But that's when the true terror begins.
A truly brilliant movie, which raises the bar impossibly high for the sub-genre of zombie horror. Even so, the sequel was every bit as good. Maybe even better. And a third installment is planned for sometime in the future. I hope to one day be able to refer to "the 28 trilogy" alongside "the aliens trilogy", but until then, these are two truly great horror movies for my collection.
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)
Quite possibly the greatest movie remake ever made. Stranded in an antarctic research facility with an unknown terror, likely not from this earth. That's a good start for a horror film, but what really makes this move unique is a combination of two factors, among other things. The first is the special effects. Some might say they went a little overboard, but I think the fx are not only iconic, terrifying, and memorable, but also suit the nature of The Thing perfectly. The other factor that serves this movie is the paranoia. Being cooped up for extended periods at the ends of the earth is one thing, but having to face a monster that has no true form, and can perfectly imitate other life forms, really tests your trust in the people around you. Any one of them could be a monster, and they wouldn't know, until it's too late. This is definitely my favorite of John Carpenter's films.
The Descent (2005)
Spelunking can be quite terrifying on its own, when things go wrong. Being stuck below the ground, afraid that your lights will run out, and that you'll be buried alive. Throw in an underground colony of carnivorous cave-creeps, and you've got yourself a horror movie. Better yet, The Descent boasts a nearly all-female cast. There's even a psychological aspect which parallels the descent into the earth with a descent into madness. This film is a sparkling jewel of modern horror.
Hellraiser (1987)
I only saw this movie and the first of its sequels a year ago, but I really dig its style. Sadomasochistic demons who are summoned from hell by solving a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration, to give the solver a chance to experience the ultimate in pain and pleasure. Awesome. These demons, the Cenobytes, are considered angels by some, demons to others. It's only a matter of perspective. Most well-adjusted citizens would consider them demons, however. The design of the Cenobytes (including the iconic Pinhead) as well as 'The Engineer' are awesomely creepy. Sometimes it just comes down to a matter of style, and I like Hellraiser's attitude. (P.S. You might as well throw in the sequel, Hellbound, as it's required viewing for any Hellraiser fan - I still, regrettably, haven't seen the rest of the titles in the series, though).
The Exorcist (1973)
I still remember the first time I saw this film. I was relatively young. I remember staying in the house, probably on Halloween night, maybe after trick 'r treating, and watching some horror movies that my mom had picked out for us. I remember watching The Exorcist that night. All I can remember thinking about it, after it was finished, was how gruesome it was. I didn't necessarily register it as a "good" movie at the time, but I was absolutely affected by it, and I respected its ability to thoroughly shake up the core of my being. I had never seen a film anything like that before. A lot of people praise this movie, and rightfully so. It manages to pull off the religious horror angle flawlessly. Very disturbing.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
A lot of people give this movie flak, but for me, the bottom line is that I thought it was terrifying. It might not be so scary if I sat down and watched it again, but first impressions are the most important, right? Being out in the middle of the woods, in the dark, and hearing strange noises, then having people disappear. That kind of situation speaks to me. Anyone who's ever been camping before, sleeping in tents, sitting around the campfire at night, particularly as an impressionable child, can identify with the fear that the Blair Witch Project invokes. And at its heart, it's an exhibition of the fear of the unknown. A true "let your imagination fill in the scary bits" kind of film. And even if it wasn't actually real, it did feel more real than most horror movies do.
Fire In The Sky (1993)
I don't know just how many alien abduction movies there are. In fact, I'd be willing to bet there are plenty more "space invaders" type alien movies than alien abduction types. But I suppose that's irrelevant. It seems to have cooled off mostly, but there was a period of time, I wanna say it was focused around the 90's (probably concurrent with the X-Files phenomenon), that a specific kind of alien scare was prevalent. The fear of being abducted, taken right out of your bed at night, and being subjected to horrifying experiments while in the presence of strange beings that look almost like man, but different enough to freak you out. And the fact that all of this could even happen without you remembering it, until those memories resurface, perhaps during hypnosis. Yeah, it's pretty far-fetched, but there was a time when it didn't seem so unreal. At least not to me. And it was, at one time, one of my biggest fears. Once again, I don't know if seeing Fire In The Sky prompted that, or if the movie was so frightening because of that fear, but the end result is that this movie terrified me more than most I saw during my childhood. I couldn't even look at the aliens for fear of their faces haunting my dreams. And the most unsettling part is that the movie was allegedly based on a true story...
Jurassic Park (1993)
I know it feels more like a "big Hollywood action/adventure" type movie than a horror movie, but if Jaws counts as horror, then so too does Jurassic Park. Besides, at least for a child, Jurassic Park was pretty darn scary. It was also one of the films that I saw the most times in the theatre. I don't remember what the count was, but I must have seen it at least 8 times while it was still running. Dinosaurs can be pretty scary, and this is probably the most well-made dinosaur film I've ever seen.
Carnosaur (1993) [and quite possibly its sequels]
It would be unfair to list Jurassic Park and not mention Carnosaur. Carnosaur is almost certainly scarier, but I didn't have the advantage of seeing it at the same young age I saw Jurassic Park. Even though its budget can't compare to that of JP, Carnosaur is pretty damn awesome for a B movie. And its dinosaurs are first and foremost horror creatures, and only secondarily prehistoric lifeforms. I need to watch these movies again.
And at this point, the horror titles start coming up in your memory faster and faster - too fast to comment on them all - and you realize that you've probably listed the cream of the crop already anyway. So I'll finish it with a brief Honorable Mentions list.
Honorable Mentions:
Black Christmas (1974)
Halloween (1978)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Friday The 13th (1980)
Carrie (1976)
The Shining (1980)
Night of the Lepus (1972)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Ju-on/The Grudge (2002)
I hereby reserve the right to glaring omissions.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Silent Hill 3
Note: This review was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.
A teenage girl's day at the mall turns into the worst nightmare imaginable. First, while snoozing in a café (Happy Burger), Heather has a horrific dream about a hellish amusement park. Then, a suspicious detective starts stalking her, mentioning her past. Demons show up, and after running into a strange woman named Claudia, who babbles on about gods and paradise, and Heather's true self, the mall is plunged into a nightmarish darkness. If that weren't enough to ruin your day, the subway has also been infested with demons, and the train leaves Heather off at an unknown, locked station, forcing her to travel through some underground passages and an office building before making it back home...
PLOT SPOILERS
...only to find out that her dad has been murdered. Then, on the way to Silent Hill, to put things right, the truth is revealed. Heather is the reincarnation of Alessa, the girl from the first Silent Hill whose purpose was to birth a god. She is the baby that Harry Mason was given in the game's ending. Harry took her away from that hellish town, but seventeen years later, cultmember Claudia Wolf is anxious to bring her back and commence the ceremonies. So Claudia enlists the help of a detective named Douglas, who only gets caught in the middle of things. Douglas is responsible for reuniting Claudia with Heather, thereby initiating the whole fiasco, but he was just Claudia's pawn, and ends up being Heather's only real friend in the ensuing battle for all mankind. The fourth character in the story is an independent cultmember named Vincent, who seems to have his own disagreements with Claudia's methods.
END PLOT SPOILERS
SH3 is a bit of a mix between old and new, conjuring up the memories of the previous SH games while creating new memories to add to the legacy. Among the locations, the Brookhaven Mental Hospital, a classic from SH2, is revisited here, as well as the Lakeside Amusement Park, which is explored much more in depth than it was in the first game. However, at least half the game occurs nowhere near the town of Silent Hill - a first for the franchise. (Rest assured, even the non-Silent Hill locations are sufficiently nightmarish). This unfortunately denies us, as players, the pleasure of getting to excitedly explore new outdoor areas of our favorite ex-resort town. Another byproduct of this situation is that much of the game feels a bit more linear than in the past, going directly from one area to the next (why does the church have a door leading to a tunnel that directly connects to the amusement park?), instead of being able to carouse about the town looking for open buildings. While this is a decided disadvantage, the linear aspect of the first part of the game is actually a nice experience, since the plot at that point is that you're trying to get home from the mall. You start the game with your house key, and you just know that your travels are eventually gonna lead you there. From the mall to the subway, through the sewers, and out through an office building next to your apartment, your journey leads you back home. But even after you get to Silent Hill and finally get to move about the streets, the options are depressingly limited.
Brand new locations include the mall (nice choice), subway station, an office building (nice chance for a variety of decor, from a dance studio, to life insurance, to auto parts, and more), and appropriately, a church. The Silent Hill atmosphere is fully intact in this game, from the graphics, to the music and sound effects, and the moments of sheer terror we Silent Hill fans have come to expect. One thing I sincerely missed, though, was the sirens that mark the transformation from Silent Hill to Silent Hell, if you will. Those sirens are iconic, and I really missed them. Instead, we occasionally get this creature allegedly named Valtiel, who looks like Pyramid Head without the characteristic pyramid helmet, climbing on walls, turning a valve. I'm not entirely sure what purpose Valtiel served, but he was never used for more than effect. That is, he never attacks you, and isn't even directly referenced by the game. So he freaked me out at first, but after realizing that he's harmless, I didn't mind him so much. He's certainly no Pyramid Head.
New techniques: Silent Hill 3 offered two new gameplay additions. One is the block (at least I don't think it was featured in the earlier titles). I didn't use it a whole lot (run seems to be a more effective option), but it was useful against the Memory of Alessa boss. The other new addition is the beef jerky. A rather clever idea. You can pick up beef jerky throughout the game, and place it on the floor to distract some of the demons. I suspect it only works on the more animalistic and lower to the ground enemies. Truth is, I didn't really use it that much. It did come in handy during my play-through when I made a point not to kill any enemies (except for bosses). The jerky was essential in at least one of the hallways in the Nightmare Hospital, to distract those annoying lizard things that love to get Heather on the floor...I think they're called Slurpers. A pleasant image, indeed.
Speaking of monsters, the monsters were pretty good in this game. The first ones were generically creepy (the fishy ones), and the tall lumbering things with huge arms were rather intimidating. The dogs were cool, with gruesomely split heads (I can't imagine how they're still able to bite and howl...) - annoyingly fast, though. The wasps pretty much freaked me out for quite awhile, before I got the nerve to actually kill one. The fact that they can fly - meaning they can move across pits, coming from directions you wouldn't expect to be attacked from - doesn't help. Nor does the freaky grating sound they make with their blade-things. The ambling, lizard-like, floor-crawlers were equally disturbing and frustrating, particularly when they attack in numbers. Getting pushed flat onto the ground in the middle of an ambush is not pleasant. The fatsos were interesting. I believe they're officially referred to as "Insane Cancers". The way they lie on the floor, seemingly lifeless until you approach, is unnerving, even when you know what's going to happen. They take a lot of pain, although I worked out a way of killing them with consecutive thrusts from the katana (my favorite weapon), which saves ammo and damage - it's somewhat less effective on harder action levels, though. I think the only monster I'm leaving out is the type that shows up in the church and looks like the roof boss. I guess they're your typical late-game addition to the bestiary - formidable and feisty.
One aspect of the game that was a little iffy was the voice-acting. All the parts reek of over-acting, in that cheesy game-dialogue sort of way. At least it's not like I play Silent Hill for the FMVs. The game held a certain bland sense of humour, which in some cases I enjoyed. But ending the game with the line, "don'tcha think blondes have more fun?" ...this is Silent Hill, I remind you. I have to say I preferred the alternate ending (possessed). It was definitely more of a "Silent Hill ending", even if it was less believable. Vincent actually made one joke in the game that I wish was true. He's talking to Heather about all the killing she's done, suggesting that she's enjoyed it. Heather asks if he's talking about the monsters, to which Vincent replies, "they looked like monsters to you?" That could have led the game into a psychological direction akin to the second game, but alas, it was only a joke. In the game's defense, the in-game text used to describe items you come across really captured Heather's personality, I think.
Extras (this section obviously contains spoilers about the different kind of extras you can unlock in the game)
I was pleased with the extras in SH3. As for the extra weapons, you can unlock a beam saber, a flamethrower, and the Unlimited SMG (Sub-Machine Gun). Of the three, the Unlimited SMG is probably the least cool, but actually the most useful. It stops enemies in their tracks pretty well, and makes the bosses considerably easier. I feel like I didn't really give the flamethrower a fair chance, but although it's really cool, I didn't find it to be particularly useful. It's just too slow and too weak, and the range is rather pathetic. Considering that my favorite weapon was the katana, the beam saber was a dream come true. Basically it's a green lightsaber. It still has the shortcomings of the katana - short range, not so hot in an ambush - and though I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be stronger than the katana, it does require a couple seconds to activate each time you use it. Though there is a trick to get it open on the fly.
The other significant extra feature in SH3 is alternate costumes. After beating the game, you unlock an option on the title screen which lets you type in passwords to acquire new costumes for Heather to wear in-game (including FMVs!). Those passwords can be found in a number of ways. A handful of costumes are "Silent Hill 3 Originals", and their passwords are uncovered by beating the game under certain conditions (like killing no enemies, or achieving a 10 star ranking, etc.), or otherwise found within the game, or given in the official strategy guide. There's also a wide range of promotional costumes for various video game magazines, websites, and such, who gave out their passwords in their own medium, though all of those have since been conveniently compiled for the SH3 costume collector.
I automatically love it when a game featuring a female protagonist offers an option for alternate costumes (TR outfit modding anyone?), but I was disappointed that the vast majority of the costumes were simply color/pattern variations of the jeans/sleeveless shirt outfit. Though the jeans/shirt outfit was a considerable change from the standard gore-tex jacket/miniskirt/boots outfit. Still, despite the monotony of outfits, SH3 redeems itself with the Transformation costume. You aren't gonna believe this.
Beat the game twice, and you get the Transformation costume. Equip it in-game, and you will be treated to a hokey transformation animation showing Heather morphing into magical girl Princess Heart. No joke. Then you get to traipse through the darkest, dankest corridors of hell-on-earth as a justice-fighting, love-redeeming magical girl (mahou shoujo)! And that's not all! There's actually a fourth extra weapon you can unlock, called the Heather Beam, which uses up stamina to shoot energy balls and sprites from Heather's eyes. Use it with the Transformation costume equipped, and it becomes the much stronger Sexy Beam! You can even shoot beams from your eyes like Superman! And here's the best part - go on a rampage, killing demons with the Sexy Beam, and you can get the "Revenge" ending. Like the UFO ending in Silent Hill, and the Dog ending in Silent Hill 2, the Revenge ending is a rather bizarre joke ending which showcases the creator's unexplainable sense of humour...
Conclusion
Silent Hill 3 lives up to the Silent Hill name, and if you enjoyed the first two games, I can't imagine you not enjoying this one. Still, I'd like to see the outdoor portion of the game series not vanish altogether. I've heard that Silent Hill 4 is even more of a departure from the traditional formula, but I have confidence that it'll work out well. I can't wait to play it. I'm really grateful for the Silent Hill franchise - I have not before or since played a video game that is quite as scary. Realms of the Haunting is a close second, but where RotH's horror leans toward a mythical bent, Silent Hill is just pure hell. As an adult who no longer fears the dark (in general), Silent Hill freaks me out much more consistently than any of the horror movies I love to watch. I simultaneously look forward to, and dread, my next foray into the world of Silent Hill...
Endgame Stats
A teenage girl's day at the mall turns into the worst nightmare imaginable. First, while snoozing in a café (Happy Burger), Heather has a horrific dream about a hellish amusement park. Then, a suspicious detective starts stalking her, mentioning her past. Demons show up, and after running into a strange woman named Claudia, who babbles on about gods and paradise, and Heather's true self, the mall is plunged into a nightmarish darkness. If that weren't enough to ruin your day, the subway has also been infested with demons, and the train leaves Heather off at an unknown, locked station, forcing her to travel through some underground passages and an office building before making it back home...
PLOT SPOILERS
...only to find out that her dad has been murdered. Then, on the way to Silent Hill, to put things right, the truth is revealed. Heather is the reincarnation of Alessa, the girl from the first Silent Hill whose purpose was to birth a god. She is the baby that Harry Mason was given in the game's ending. Harry took her away from that hellish town, but seventeen years later, cultmember Claudia Wolf is anxious to bring her back and commence the ceremonies. So Claudia enlists the help of a detective named Douglas, who only gets caught in the middle of things. Douglas is responsible for reuniting Claudia with Heather, thereby initiating the whole fiasco, but he was just Claudia's pawn, and ends up being Heather's only real friend in the ensuing battle for all mankind. The fourth character in the story is an independent cultmember named Vincent, who seems to have his own disagreements with Claudia's methods.
END PLOT SPOILERS
SH3 is a bit of a mix between old and new, conjuring up the memories of the previous SH games while creating new memories to add to the legacy. Among the locations, the Brookhaven Mental Hospital, a classic from SH2, is revisited here, as well as the Lakeside Amusement Park, which is explored much more in depth than it was in the first game. However, at least half the game occurs nowhere near the town of Silent Hill - a first for the franchise. (Rest assured, even the non-Silent Hill locations are sufficiently nightmarish). This unfortunately denies us, as players, the pleasure of getting to excitedly explore new outdoor areas of our favorite ex-resort town. Another byproduct of this situation is that much of the game feels a bit more linear than in the past, going directly from one area to the next (why does the church have a door leading to a tunnel that directly connects to the amusement park?), instead of being able to carouse about the town looking for open buildings. While this is a decided disadvantage, the linear aspect of the first part of the game is actually a nice experience, since the plot at that point is that you're trying to get home from the mall. You start the game with your house key, and you just know that your travels are eventually gonna lead you there. From the mall to the subway, through the sewers, and out through an office building next to your apartment, your journey leads you back home. But even after you get to Silent Hill and finally get to move about the streets, the options are depressingly limited.
Brand new locations include the mall (nice choice), subway station, an office building (nice chance for a variety of decor, from a dance studio, to life insurance, to auto parts, and more), and appropriately, a church. The Silent Hill atmosphere is fully intact in this game, from the graphics, to the music and sound effects, and the moments of sheer terror we Silent Hill fans have come to expect. One thing I sincerely missed, though, was the sirens that mark the transformation from Silent Hill to Silent Hell, if you will. Those sirens are iconic, and I really missed them. Instead, we occasionally get this creature allegedly named Valtiel, who looks like Pyramid Head without the characteristic pyramid helmet, climbing on walls, turning a valve. I'm not entirely sure what purpose Valtiel served, but he was never used for more than effect. That is, he never attacks you, and isn't even directly referenced by the game. So he freaked me out at first, but after realizing that he's harmless, I didn't mind him so much. He's certainly no Pyramid Head.
New techniques: Silent Hill 3 offered two new gameplay additions. One is the block (at least I don't think it was featured in the earlier titles). I didn't use it a whole lot (run seems to be a more effective option), but it was useful against the Memory of Alessa boss. The other new addition is the beef jerky. A rather clever idea. You can pick up beef jerky throughout the game, and place it on the floor to distract some of the demons. I suspect it only works on the more animalistic and lower to the ground enemies. Truth is, I didn't really use it that much. It did come in handy during my play-through when I made a point not to kill any enemies (except for bosses). The jerky was essential in at least one of the hallways in the Nightmare Hospital, to distract those annoying lizard things that love to get Heather on the floor...I think they're called Slurpers. A pleasant image, indeed.
Speaking of monsters, the monsters were pretty good in this game. The first ones were generically creepy (the fishy ones), and the tall lumbering things with huge arms were rather intimidating. The dogs were cool, with gruesomely split heads (I can't imagine how they're still able to bite and howl...) - annoyingly fast, though. The wasps pretty much freaked me out for quite awhile, before I got the nerve to actually kill one. The fact that they can fly - meaning they can move across pits, coming from directions you wouldn't expect to be attacked from - doesn't help. Nor does the freaky grating sound they make with their blade-things. The ambling, lizard-like, floor-crawlers were equally disturbing and frustrating, particularly when they attack in numbers. Getting pushed flat onto the ground in the middle of an ambush is not pleasant. The fatsos were interesting. I believe they're officially referred to as "Insane Cancers". The way they lie on the floor, seemingly lifeless until you approach, is unnerving, even when you know what's going to happen. They take a lot of pain, although I worked out a way of killing them with consecutive thrusts from the katana (my favorite weapon), which saves ammo and damage - it's somewhat less effective on harder action levels, though. I think the only monster I'm leaving out is the type that shows up in the church and looks like the roof boss. I guess they're your typical late-game addition to the bestiary - formidable and feisty.
One aspect of the game that was a little iffy was the voice-acting. All the parts reek of over-acting, in that cheesy game-dialogue sort of way. At least it's not like I play Silent Hill for the FMVs. The game held a certain bland sense of humour, which in some cases I enjoyed. But ending the game with the line, "don'tcha think blondes have more fun?" ...this is Silent Hill, I remind you. I have to say I preferred the alternate ending (possessed). It was definitely more of a "Silent Hill ending", even if it was less believable. Vincent actually made one joke in the game that I wish was true. He's talking to Heather about all the killing she's done, suggesting that she's enjoyed it. Heather asks if he's talking about the monsters, to which Vincent replies, "they looked like monsters to you?" That could have led the game into a psychological direction akin to the second game, but alas, it was only a joke. In the game's defense, the in-game text used to describe items you come across really captured Heather's personality, I think.
Extras (this section obviously contains spoilers about the different kind of extras you can unlock in the game)
I was pleased with the extras in SH3. As for the extra weapons, you can unlock a beam saber, a flamethrower, and the Unlimited SMG (Sub-Machine Gun). Of the three, the Unlimited SMG is probably the least cool, but actually the most useful. It stops enemies in their tracks pretty well, and makes the bosses considerably easier. I feel like I didn't really give the flamethrower a fair chance, but although it's really cool, I didn't find it to be particularly useful. It's just too slow and too weak, and the range is rather pathetic. Considering that my favorite weapon was the katana, the beam saber was a dream come true. Basically it's a green lightsaber. It still has the shortcomings of the katana - short range, not so hot in an ambush - and though I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be stronger than the katana, it does require a couple seconds to activate each time you use it. Though there is a trick to get it open on the fly.
The other significant extra feature in SH3 is alternate costumes. After beating the game, you unlock an option on the title screen which lets you type in passwords to acquire new costumes for Heather to wear in-game (including FMVs!). Those passwords can be found in a number of ways. A handful of costumes are "Silent Hill 3 Originals", and their passwords are uncovered by beating the game under certain conditions (like killing no enemies, or achieving a 10 star ranking, etc.), or otherwise found within the game, or given in the official strategy guide. There's also a wide range of promotional costumes for various video game magazines, websites, and such, who gave out their passwords in their own medium, though all of those have since been conveniently compiled for the SH3 costume collector.
I automatically love it when a game featuring a female protagonist offers an option for alternate costumes (TR outfit modding anyone?), but I was disappointed that the vast majority of the costumes were simply color/pattern variations of the jeans/sleeveless shirt outfit. Though the jeans/shirt outfit was a considerable change from the standard gore-tex jacket/miniskirt/boots outfit. Still, despite the monotony of outfits, SH3 redeems itself with the Transformation costume. You aren't gonna believe this.
Beat the game twice, and you get the Transformation costume. Equip it in-game, and you will be treated to a hokey transformation animation showing Heather morphing into magical girl Princess Heart. No joke. Then you get to traipse through the darkest, dankest corridors of hell-on-earth as a justice-fighting, love-redeeming magical girl (mahou shoujo)! And that's not all! There's actually a fourth extra weapon you can unlock, called the Heather Beam, which uses up stamina to shoot energy balls and sprites from Heather's eyes. Use it with the Transformation costume equipped, and it becomes the much stronger Sexy Beam! You can even shoot beams from your eyes like Superman! And here's the best part - go on a rampage, killing demons with the Sexy Beam, and you can get the "Revenge" ending. Like the UFO ending in Silent Hill, and the Dog ending in Silent Hill 2, the Revenge ending is a rather bizarre joke ending which showcases the creator's unexplainable sense of humour...
Conclusion
Silent Hill 3 lives up to the Silent Hill name, and if you enjoyed the first two games, I can't imagine you not enjoying this one. Still, I'd like to see the outdoor portion of the game series not vanish altogether. I've heard that Silent Hill 4 is even more of a departure from the traditional formula, but I have confidence that it'll work out well. I can't wait to play it. I'm really grateful for the Silent Hill franchise - I have not before or since played a video game that is quite as scary. Realms of the Haunting is a close second, but where RotH's horror leans toward a mythical bent, Silent Hill is just pure hell. As an adult who no longer fears the dark (in general), Silent Hill freaks me out much more consistently than any of the horror movies I love to watch. I simultaneously look forward to, and dread, my next foray into the world of Silent Hill...
Endgame Stats
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