[ S6:E2 "Drive" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E4 "Dreamland" ]
Ugh. I'm not going to enjoy critiquing this episode. Like last season's The Post-Modern Prometheus, it was written and directed by Chris Carter. Also like that episode, it is a bit of an experiment - one that is generally well-received by fans, and one that I really didn't like much at all. I hate to say anything bad about Chris Carter - he's the genius who created The X-Files, and is undoubtedly the man behind much of what makes The X-Files so good. But if this episode and The Post-Modern Prometheus came from anyone else, I'd be tempted to use them as examples that their creator doesn't really get the show. Which is hard to reconcile with the truth. Granted, Chris Carter hasn't had a great track record for freak-of-the-week episodes (going all the way back to season 1's much-maligned Space) - although that doesn't explain why fans love these later excursions. And I still think he's a genius as far as the mythology is concerned (even with his frustrating tendency to ask more questions than he answers). But if you ask me, I'd just as soon he stuck to the mythology. I don't begrudge him his opportunity to play around in the sandbox of his own creation - he's certainly earned it. I guess all I have to say is that I'm not very fond of the results.
The Post-Modern Prometheus' technical trick-of-the-week was being shot in black and white. Triangle has a trick of its own - it's shot using lots of long shots, with minimal cuts between (like The Silent House). But, as in the previous case, I fear that it feels a little pretentious - like a rookie director trying out a new toy just to see what he can do with it, rather than a talented auteur putting a rare technique to use in service of the story. As such, we get lots of long tracking shots as characters move up and down long hallways (with lots of dark corners in which to hide cuts), and instead of letting the viewer get lost in the escapism of the fantasy, it constantly draws your attention to the fact that you're watching somebody with a camera following the actors around. This is useful in found footage films, where realism is a commodity that enhances the effect of the fear, but doesn't work out so well here.
Anyhow, this is the much-celebrated episode in which Mulder washes up aboard a ship lost in the Bermuda Triangle (the stark opener isn't as tense as it should be because you know Mulder's not really going to drown at sea). But instead of the eerie ghost ship atmosphere that we got in Død Kalm (a much better - and more classic - episode, in my opinion), the ship has been displaced in time from the era of the Second World War, leading to an out-of-date period piece with Nazis. I don't want to be insensitive, but I think Nazis are kind of tacky. You can tell good stories about them, but they're such a caricature of evil that it's too easy for a writer to get lazy. And as time marches on, the thematic shorthand of the events of WWII is losing more and more of its emotional relevance to modern audiences. For better or worse, Hitler is becoming ancient history. Also, I know it seems "fun" and, above all, "patriotic", to have Mulder take advantage of the opportunity to insult the Nazis directly to their faces, but you'd think that without the safety buffer of decades of history between you and them, you'd be a bit more subtle (like the people of their time) about your hatred of the men who could easily kill you if they decide they don't like you as much as you don't like them.
I know the Bermuda Triangle is weird, and maybe in the end it's not simply a case of time displacement, but Mulder hallucinating, or an alternate dimension or something, but why have familiar people showing up with different identities in the past? Scully's there. So is Spender - and both he and the Smoking Man are Nazis. I mean, it's like the ridiculous past-life fantasy from The Field Where I Died brought to life (and that wasn't a great episode worth revisiting and expanding a thread from into an entire episode of its own). But that's not the limit of the weirdness. Why play kooky dance music during a fight scene? (Not to make another mention to The Post-Modern Prometheus, but between that and this episode, I have reservations about Chris Carter's taste in music, Songs in the Key of X notwithstanding). Scully kisses Skinner in relief in one scene, but it feels overly dramatized. For that matter, Mulder kisses alternate dimension Scully near the end of the episode, which seems to be more pandering to the shippers without giving actual ground. Except that then Mulder actually confesses his love to the real Scully (who thankfully doesn't take it seriously), and I'm thinking, what's going on with this show?
I mean, there have been episodes in the past that have felt off - Humbug, for example, which was the first "comedy" episode of the series, had the wrong tone, in my opinion. But even though I didn't like The Post-Modern Prometheus, it still felt like an X-File. And though The Field Where I Died was dreadful, there was no point at which I felt that it was anything more than a single week's flop. But with the crazy shit that goes on in this episode, in addition to the recent move to L.A., and the introduction of all these new characters - Spender, Fowley, and now Kersh, too - this is the first point in the series where I really feel like things are starting to go off the rails. I'm sure there will be better episodes in the future - especially in the next three seasons - to pinpoint as places where the series "jumped the shark", but much like how I identified Talitha Cumi as the point where the mythology was just starting to break down, I could consider this episode to be the "early warning sign" that the show is heading down hill.
Memorable quotes:
Langly: All we can do is wait and hope for the best.
Frohike: Yeah, but expect the worst.
Skinner: Use your head, Scully. It'll save your ass.
Scully: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.
(Okay, yeah. Skinner: good advice. Scully: not sure what the hell you're trying to say here. It's like you're trying to be clever, but it didn't really work out. It's okay, I understand you're stressed out in this scene).
Scully: You did something incredibly stupid.
Mulder: What did I do?
Scully: You went looking for a ship, Mulder. In the Bermuda Triangle.
(That about says it. Although I can't help thinking that a more traditional X-Files episode about the Bermuda Triangle could have been a whole lot more interesting).
Showing posts with label Nazis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nazis. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
The X-Files - S4:E15 "Kaddish"
[ S4:E14 "Memento Mori" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E16 "Unrequited" ]
Like El Mundo Gira was "that episode with the chupacabra", this is "that episode with the golem". But it has at least as much to do with the racial tensions among a Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, than any folktale about mudmen. This makes more sense when you realize that writer Howard Gordon's last episode this season was the African-flavored Teliko. Following a racially-motivated murder, the Jewish victim's killers begin turning up dead, and the deceased victim's fingerprints turn up on the scene. Scully's first instinct is to blame it on a hoax, but knowing this series' penchant for stories about "revenge from beyond the grave" (and maybe because we saw a pile of dirt breathing in the opener), the audience can be forgiven for scoffing at that theory.
As usual, the monster is spun in just such a fashion that it spends most of its time in human form, no doubt lightening the work load for the special effects department. I have to admit, it would have been cool to see a mud monster walking around throughout the episode. This now being the latter half of the fourth season, I think I can state with some confidence that there are few true "monsters" on The X-Files. I'm sure that helps keep these stories grounded within the realm of "extreme possibility" - as opposed to pure science-fiction - but let's be honest, it's not as though I didn't enjoy the pure fantasy elements of a show like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, for example. Oh well, I guess The X-Files has always been more about its characters, and its human themes, in spite of the paranormal angle.
The themes presented in this episode are intriguing, but somewhat muddled. Like, it seemed to want to say something about the power of words, but in the end it relied too much on hokey mysticism. And maybe this is just me, but the Nazi flag was perhaps a little too on-the-nose. The setup is perfect for making a sociopolitical statement - which this series loves to do on occasion - but it rarely feels truly organic. Like, though Mulder seems unusually protective of the Jewish community in this episode, it doesn't exactly help that in the scene where the one character is describing her father's escape from the Holocaust, David Duchovny is standing in the background looking bored. I dunno. There's a decent twist at the end, but overall it's a mediocre episode.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: I think that this is a crime of hatred, like the crime that spawned it - a hatred that goes back 4000 years, but masquerading as something else here: a callow attempt at murderous retribution disguised as spectral justice.
Mulder: A resurrection hoax.
Scully: And not a very good one.
Mulder: Anybody delivering justice to a people who've known that kind of persecution and hatred - why wouldn't they protect him?
Scully: Justice or revenge?
Mulder: I'm not saying those kids don't warrant full prosecution under the law, but the hate-mongering goes both ways.
Scully: Yes, but the right to free expression doesn't extend to murder.
(Nice strawman there, Scully. You can do better than that).
Librarian: The power of letters - not just to create, but to kill.
(Okay, then. Apparently this is a theme).
Scully: You think it's some kind of a ghost?
Mulder: A ghost is spirit without form, but I believe what we're looking for, and what we're seeing here, is form without spirit. Something called a golem.
Like El Mundo Gira was "that episode with the chupacabra", this is "that episode with the golem". But it has at least as much to do with the racial tensions among a Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, than any folktale about mudmen. This makes more sense when you realize that writer Howard Gordon's last episode this season was the African-flavored Teliko. Following a racially-motivated murder, the Jewish victim's killers begin turning up dead, and the deceased victim's fingerprints turn up on the scene. Scully's first instinct is to blame it on a hoax, but knowing this series' penchant for stories about "revenge from beyond the grave" (and maybe because we saw a pile of dirt breathing in the opener), the audience can be forgiven for scoffing at that theory.
As usual, the monster is spun in just such a fashion that it spends most of its time in human form, no doubt lightening the work load for the special effects department. I have to admit, it would have been cool to see a mud monster walking around throughout the episode. This now being the latter half of the fourth season, I think I can state with some confidence that there are few true "monsters" on The X-Files. I'm sure that helps keep these stories grounded within the realm of "extreme possibility" - as opposed to pure science-fiction - but let's be honest, it's not as though I didn't enjoy the pure fantasy elements of a show like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, for example. Oh well, I guess The X-Files has always been more about its characters, and its human themes, in spite of the paranormal angle.
The themes presented in this episode are intriguing, but somewhat muddled. Like, it seemed to want to say something about the power of words, but in the end it relied too much on hokey mysticism. And maybe this is just me, but the Nazi flag was perhaps a little too on-the-nose. The setup is perfect for making a sociopolitical statement - which this series loves to do on occasion - but it rarely feels truly organic. Like, though Mulder seems unusually protective of the Jewish community in this episode, it doesn't exactly help that in the scene where the one character is describing her father's escape from the Holocaust, David Duchovny is standing in the background looking bored. I dunno. There's a decent twist at the end, but overall it's a mediocre episode.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: I think that this is a crime of hatred, like the crime that spawned it - a hatred that goes back 4000 years, but masquerading as something else here: a callow attempt at murderous retribution disguised as spectral justice.
Mulder: A resurrection hoax.
Scully: And not a very good one.
Mulder: Anybody delivering justice to a people who've known that kind of persecution and hatred - why wouldn't they protect him?
Scully: Justice or revenge?
Mulder: I'm not saying those kids don't warrant full prosecution under the law, but the hate-mongering goes both ways.
Scully: Yes, but the right to free expression doesn't extend to murder.
(Nice strawman there, Scully. You can do better than that).
Librarian: The power of letters - not just to create, but to kill.
(Okay, then. Apparently this is a theme).
Scully: You think it's some kind of a ghost?
Mulder: A ghost is spirit without form, but I believe what we're looking for, and what we're seeing here, is form without spirit. Something called a golem.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
The X-Files - S3:E2 "Paper Clip"
[ S3:E1 "The Blessing Way" <<< Season 3 >>> S3:E3 "D.P.O. ]
Spoiler Warning: This episode concludes what I've always lovingly referred to as "the merchandise trilogy". There will be major spoilers in this review.
This episode opens with a symbol of hope - the birth of a sacred white buffalo. Yet, despite being tasked with wrapping up the story threads from the last two episodes, there is still much excitement to be had before it's all over. Of these three episodes, I think the first one was the most memorable - the acquiring of the classified documents, and the alien things in the boxcar. But the following two episodes have been so thrilling, and so filled with exciting, memorable scenes - the drama doesn't let up at all from start to finish. I was actually starting to lose my breath by the end of this episode, from gasping at all the unbelievable events and revelations - it's just one remarkable scene after another.
After the opening credits, we return to the tense standoff between Scully and Skinner that ended the last episode, which is defused only by the unexpected return of Mulder. The good news is that Skinner appears to still be on the side of justice - Mulder and Scully could really use an ally. While Skinner struggles to finagle a deal with the reluctant Smoking Man, Mulder digs into his father's past, to try to learn about his connection to the conspiracy - and, with the help of The Lone Gunmen, to identify some of the other conspirators from an old photograph found among his father's things. Deep Throat is in the picture, and so is an ex-Nazi who was given asylum by the U.S. government in return for his scientific knowledge.
Meanwhile, Scully learns that her sister was shot in her place. You really have to feel sorry for Mrs. Scully - having to deal with the loss of her husband, and then the near loss of her daughter, and now the loss of her other daughter. If nothing else, the events of these episodes have proven that these conspirators are not just playing games, and are willing to kill to keep their secrets. As a result of the mistaken assassination, though, the Syndicate begins to catch wind of the Smoking Man's lies, when he assured them previously that he had the situation under control. Now to save face, he'll have to put the hammer down and wrap things up post haste. It's a little bit cathartic to see the Smoking Man so desperate for once.
As an aside, you know, I was willing to take the Smoking Man's word in Anasazi that Krycek was acting independently in the murder of Mulder's father, but I guess I was giving him too much credit. Krycek's involvement in the Scully shooting in The Blessing Way would seem to suggest that he is indeed still an agent of the Smoking Man, and his procuring of the DAT tape in this episode makes it official. However, probably as a result of the Scully debacle, the Smoking Man double-crosses him - but he survives the assassination attempt and makes off with the tape. This, after all, is where he finally goes rogue! It's kind of satisfying to see an independent agent mark the Smoking Man as an enemy, but this is Krycek we're talking about, so it's not like there are going to be any "enemy of my enemy is my friend" alliances with Mulder anytime soon...
Following up on their lead, Mulder and Scully head to an abandoned mine in rural West Virginia. Inside they find tunnels upon tunnels of file cabinets filled with medical records and tissue samples. Scully's file is in there, and so is Mulder's sister's, except that it was originally supposed to be his. Before they can figure out what it's all for, the facility is visited by a gigantic UFO - Mulder hasn't been this close to one since the military UFO in the episode Deep Throat (and this time his mind doesn't get wiped!) - and we see a group of diminutive beings that look (in the dark) similar to the bodies from the boxcar - except alive. Following hot on their heels is a hit squad that cuts the agents' investigation short.
They do get some answers in a followup meeting with the Well-Manicured Man, but Scully is afraid he is just telling Mulder what he wants to hear. He leads Mulder into believing that the Nazi scientist was trying to make alien/human hybrids, and storing medical information (with tissue samples possibly collected during abductions) on thousands of citizens toward that end. He also feeds Mulder lines about his father threatening to expose the project when he learned what it was for. But the most chilling revelation is one that is even more personal, and is exactly the thing Mulder's father was alluding to in his posthumous visitation in the last episode. After interrogating his mother, Mulder confirms that his father had made a choice, whether it was to be Fox or his sister that was abducted all those years ago...
Heavy stuff. And still so expertly rationed out - to make it feel like we're getting tons of information, yet much of it lies in doubt. Especially when the answers are coming from people who patently can't be trusted. But at the same time, we do get a small but important piece of information, and after each mythology episode, if we add it up with everything else we've learned, we get one step closer to the truth - which is out there, just like Samantha. In the mean time, Skinner presents Mulder and Scully with a hard decision - whether or not to hand over the DAT tape for their safety (and job security). It's telling that we've hardly learned anything more from the documents themselves since Anasazi.
Do they blow the conspiracy wide open at the risk of their lives? Or concede this battle so that they can continue to wage the war? Since this is just the beginning of the third season, and not the end of the series, you can guess what their decision will be. Still, amidst all the tragedy, it's a more hopeful conclusion than we've seen from mythology episodes of late, which have often ended with Mulder or Scully missing or lying on a hospital bed. It's a strong start to the third season (and a more confident one than we had last season, with Mulder and Scully separated, and the X-Files project on hold). Thus concludes one of the greatest moments in the entire series - this is The X-Files at its peak. The show will return to its monster-of-the-week format in the next episode.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: I was a dead man. Now I'm back.
Skinner: What is on this tape?
Mulder: Defense Department files that weren't supposed to exist. The truth about our government's involvement in a global conspiracy of silence about the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Byers: Are you familiar with a post-World War II project known as Operation Paper Clip?
Mulder: Our deal with the devil. The U.S. government provided safe haven for certain Nazi war criminals in exchange for their scientific knowledge.
Smoking Man: There was a mistake. It will be rectified.
Well-Manicured Man: By whom? By whom will this be rectified? Your ridiculously ineffectual assassins?
Smoking Man: These men are professionals.
Well-Manicured Man: This is not a profession for men who make mistakes. My God, you presume to make us believe you can simply fix it with enough bullets?
Victor Klemper: There are some things you don't have to know.
Mulder: No - I need to know! I need to know the truth!
Smoking Man: You wanna work a deal? Is that what this is? Let me tell you something - I don't work deals!
Mulder: Lots of files.
Scully: Lots and lots of files.
Skinner: This place isn't even on the map. How'd you get here?
Mulder: You'd be surprised what's not on the map in this country, and what the government will do to keep it that way.
Albert Hosteen: My father taught me when I was a boy that this is how life is: that for something to live, another thing must often be sacrificed.
Mulder: Why are you telling me this?
Well-Manicured Man: It's what you want to know. Isn't it?
Mulder: Is there more?
Well-Manicured Man: More than you'll ever know.
Krycek (to Smoking Man): If I so much as feel your presence, I'm gonna make you a very, very famous man. You understand?
Smoking Man: You can't play poker if you're not holding any cards, Mr. Skinner. Ever wondered what it'd be like to...die in a plane crash? Of botulism? Even a heart attack's not uncommon for a man your age. Think I'm bluffing?
Smoking Man: What is this?
Skinner; This is where you pucker up and kiss my ass.
Mulder: I believe that what we're looking for...is in the X-Files. I'm more certain than ever that the truth is in there.
Scully: I've heard the truth, Mulder. Now what I want are the answers.
Spoiler Warning: This episode concludes what I've always lovingly referred to as "the merchandise trilogy". There will be major spoilers in this review.
This episode opens with a symbol of hope - the birth of a sacred white buffalo. Yet, despite being tasked with wrapping up the story threads from the last two episodes, there is still much excitement to be had before it's all over. Of these three episodes, I think the first one was the most memorable - the acquiring of the classified documents, and the alien things in the boxcar. But the following two episodes have been so thrilling, and so filled with exciting, memorable scenes - the drama doesn't let up at all from start to finish. I was actually starting to lose my breath by the end of this episode, from gasping at all the unbelievable events and revelations - it's just one remarkable scene after another.
After the opening credits, we return to the tense standoff between Scully and Skinner that ended the last episode, which is defused only by the unexpected return of Mulder. The good news is that Skinner appears to still be on the side of justice - Mulder and Scully could really use an ally. While Skinner struggles to finagle a deal with the reluctant Smoking Man, Mulder digs into his father's past, to try to learn about his connection to the conspiracy - and, with the help of The Lone Gunmen, to identify some of the other conspirators from an old photograph found among his father's things. Deep Throat is in the picture, and so is an ex-Nazi who was given asylum by the U.S. government in return for his scientific knowledge.
Meanwhile, Scully learns that her sister was shot in her place. You really have to feel sorry for Mrs. Scully - having to deal with the loss of her husband, and then the near loss of her daughter, and now the loss of her other daughter. If nothing else, the events of these episodes have proven that these conspirators are not just playing games, and are willing to kill to keep their secrets. As a result of the mistaken assassination, though, the Syndicate begins to catch wind of the Smoking Man's lies, when he assured them previously that he had the situation under control. Now to save face, he'll have to put the hammer down and wrap things up post haste. It's a little bit cathartic to see the Smoking Man so desperate for once.
As an aside, you know, I was willing to take the Smoking Man's word in Anasazi that Krycek was acting independently in the murder of Mulder's father, but I guess I was giving him too much credit. Krycek's involvement in the Scully shooting in The Blessing Way would seem to suggest that he is indeed still an agent of the Smoking Man, and his procuring of the DAT tape in this episode makes it official. However, probably as a result of the Scully debacle, the Smoking Man double-crosses him - but he survives the assassination attempt and makes off with the tape. This, after all, is where he finally goes rogue! It's kind of satisfying to see an independent agent mark the Smoking Man as an enemy, but this is Krycek we're talking about, so it's not like there are going to be any "enemy of my enemy is my friend" alliances with Mulder anytime soon...
Following up on their lead, Mulder and Scully head to an abandoned mine in rural West Virginia. Inside they find tunnels upon tunnels of file cabinets filled with medical records and tissue samples. Scully's file is in there, and so is Mulder's sister's, except that it was originally supposed to be his. Before they can figure out what it's all for, the facility is visited by a gigantic UFO - Mulder hasn't been this close to one since the military UFO in the episode Deep Throat (and this time his mind doesn't get wiped!) - and we see a group of diminutive beings that look (in the dark) similar to the bodies from the boxcar - except alive. Following hot on their heels is a hit squad that cuts the agents' investigation short.
They do get some answers in a followup meeting with the Well-Manicured Man, but Scully is afraid he is just telling Mulder what he wants to hear. He leads Mulder into believing that the Nazi scientist was trying to make alien/human hybrids, and storing medical information (with tissue samples possibly collected during abductions) on thousands of citizens toward that end. He also feeds Mulder lines about his father threatening to expose the project when he learned what it was for. But the most chilling revelation is one that is even more personal, and is exactly the thing Mulder's father was alluding to in his posthumous visitation in the last episode. After interrogating his mother, Mulder confirms that his father had made a choice, whether it was to be Fox or his sister that was abducted all those years ago...
Heavy stuff. And still so expertly rationed out - to make it feel like we're getting tons of information, yet much of it lies in doubt. Especially when the answers are coming from people who patently can't be trusted. But at the same time, we do get a small but important piece of information, and after each mythology episode, if we add it up with everything else we've learned, we get one step closer to the truth - which is out there, just like Samantha. In the mean time, Skinner presents Mulder and Scully with a hard decision - whether or not to hand over the DAT tape for their safety (and job security). It's telling that we've hardly learned anything more from the documents themselves since Anasazi.
Do they blow the conspiracy wide open at the risk of their lives? Or concede this battle so that they can continue to wage the war? Since this is just the beginning of the third season, and not the end of the series, you can guess what their decision will be. Still, amidst all the tragedy, it's a more hopeful conclusion than we've seen from mythology episodes of late, which have often ended with Mulder or Scully missing or lying on a hospital bed. It's a strong start to the third season (and a more confident one than we had last season, with Mulder and Scully separated, and the X-Files project on hold). Thus concludes one of the greatest moments in the entire series - this is The X-Files at its peak. The show will return to its monster-of-the-week format in the next episode.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: I was a dead man. Now I'm back.
Skinner: What is on this tape?
Mulder: Defense Department files that weren't supposed to exist. The truth about our government's involvement in a global conspiracy of silence about the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Byers: Are you familiar with a post-World War II project known as Operation Paper Clip?
Mulder: Our deal with the devil. The U.S. government provided safe haven for certain Nazi war criminals in exchange for their scientific knowledge.
Smoking Man: There was a mistake. It will be rectified.
Well-Manicured Man: By whom? By whom will this be rectified? Your ridiculously ineffectual assassins?
Smoking Man: These men are professionals.
Well-Manicured Man: This is not a profession for men who make mistakes. My God, you presume to make us believe you can simply fix it with enough bullets?
Victor Klemper: There are some things you don't have to know.
Mulder: No - I need to know! I need to know the truth!
Smoking Man: You wanna work a deal? Is that what this is? Let me tell you something - I don't work deals!
Mulder: Lots of files.
Scully: Lots and lots of files.
Skinner: This place isn't even on the map. How'd you get here?
Mulder: You'd be surprised what's not on the map in this country, and what the government will do to keep it that way.
Albert Hosteen: My father taught me when I was a boy that this is how life is: that for something to live, another thing must often be sacrificed.
Mulder: Why are you telling me this?
Well-Manicured Man: It's what you want to know. Isn't it?
Mulder: Is there more?
Well-Manicured Man: More than you'll ever know.
Krycek (to Smoking Man): If I so much as feel your presence, I'm gonna make you a very, very famous man. You understand?
Smoking Man: You can't play poker if you're not holding any cards, Mr. Skinner. Ever wondered what it'd be like to...die in a plane crash? Of botulism? Even a heart attack's not uncommon for a man your age. Think I'm bluffing?
Smoking Man: What is this?
Skinner; This is where you pucker up and kiss my ass.
Mulder: I believe that what we're looking for...is in the X-Files. I'm more certain than ever that the truth is in there.
Scully: I've heard the truth, Mulder. Now what I want are the answers.
Friday, September 26, 2014
The Keep (1983)
The Keep distinguishes itself right out the gate with a cast that includes Ian McKellen, and a score by Tangerine Dream. The cinematography is very artistic, and the setting most foreboding. As the movie begins, a Nazi regiment tasked with guarding a mountain pass in Romania sets up camp inside an ancient keep, whose caretaker warns them of terrible nightmares that have driven out anyone who has previously attempted to spend the night. Just fifteen minutes into the movie, and I'm actually shivering with anticipation of what's to come.
And what follows is far from predictable. Rather than a conventional monster movie, this film evolves into more of an epic battle between good and evil. And while it appears at one point to be shaping up into a Nazi deathwish fulfillment fantasy, the movie has some secrets yet in store. The special effects are admittedly primitive, but the monster, such as it is, has an effectively unique (and imposing) appearance. The music, meanwhile, contributes to an almost Lynchian atmosphere. I consider The Keep to be an unexpected gem, and an example of the positive effect that creativity can have when it is not unduly restrained by adherence to formula, as seems to be a frequent problem with modern cinema.
And what follows is far from predictable. Rather than a conventional monster movie, this film evolves into more of an epic battle between good and evil. And while it appears at one point to be shaping up into a Nazi deathwish fulfillment fantasy, the movie has some secrets yet in store. The special effects are admittedly primitive, but the monster, such as it is, has an effectively unique (and imposing) appearance. The music, meanwhile, contributes to an almost Lynchian atmosphere. I consider The Keep to be an unexpected gem, and an example of the positive effect that creativity can have when it is not unduly restrained by adherence to formula, as seems to be a frequent problem with modern cinema.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Dead Snow (2009)
Finally made the time to sit down and watch Dead Snow, a Norwegian film about Nazi zombies, tonight. I've seen a lot of movies in my day, so I wouldn't put it past someone to make a serious movie about Nazi zombies, but obviously the first thing you think when the plot synopsis mentions "Nazi zombies", is, "are you serious?" But actually, the movie does start out pretty seriously, setting the stage for what looks to be a fairly standard horror flick in the teen slasher vein (albeit from a Norwegian perspective).
But the movie's self-awareness quickly becomes evident in the form of a character who is a movie buff, with some early explicit references to horror classics like Friday the 13th and Evil Dead, and who wears a Braindead (a.k.a. Peter Jackson's Dead Alive) t-shirt, all of which this movie makes copious homages too, and which informs the tongue-in-cheek brand of black humor that infests the latter half of the movie - for better or worse (probably better, since I think this movie would ultimately have been less successful as a serious movie than simply as a fun one).
Before things get too silly, the Harbinger - as The Cabin in the Woods would undoubtedly label him - appears unexpectedly at the cabin in the woods (actually a snowy mountainscape), and gives one of the better performances of his ilk (among the myriad slasher films in existence), with a history lesson that plays out more like an around-the-campfire ghost story and that sets the scene for the coming appearance of the frozen reanimated Nazi corpses. After they show up, the film ramps up the scares and the gore, but also the straight-faced and situational humor. Meanwhile, the blood keeps getting poured on in good Braindead fashion, and many of the characters face humorously ironic ordeals and demises, that might elicit a chuckle but will definitely induce a grimace (or four).
It's hard to say how I actually feel about this film, given my preference for the serious over the humorous (despite my tempered appreciation for the Braindead-style over-the-top approach). And let's be honest, this film had what was probably the least erotic sex scene in a slasher film I've probably seen in...ever. The humorous appropriation of Nazi imagery doesn't offend me in the least, but it doesn't particularly get me excited, either. The locations, however, were suitably isolated and really very beautiful, offering something unique in place of the typical wooded lake kind of setting, even if it meant less scantily clad coeds. But, purely as a zombie film, Dead Snow is a bit too frantic, and lacks the shambling feel of a classic zombie movie. It's really more of a monster-in-the-woods slasher kind of flick, especially of the tongue-in-cheek, self-aware variety. Whether that's a plus or a minus is up to you.
But the movie's self-awareness quickly becomes evident in the form of a character who is a movie buff, with some early explicit references to horror classics like Friday the 13th and Evil Dead, and who wears a Braindead (a.k.a. Peter Jackson's Dead Alive) t-shirt, all of which this movie makes copious homages too, and which informs the tongue-in-cheek brand of black humor that infests the latter half of the movie - for better or worse (probably better, since I think this movie would ultimately have been less successful as a serious movie than simply as a fun one).
Before things get too silly, the Harbinger - as The Cabin in the Woods would undoubtedly label him - appears unexpectedly at the cabin in the woods (actually a snowy mountainscape), and gives one of the better performances of his ilk (among the myriad slasher films in existence), with a history lesson that plays out more like an around-the-campfire ghost story and that sets the scene for the coming appearance of the frozen reanimated Nazi corpses. After they show up, the film ramps up the scares and the gore, but also the straight-faced and situational humor. Meanwhile, the blood keeps getting poured on in good Braindead fashion, and many of the characters face humorously ironic ordeals and demises, that might elicit a chuckle but will definitely induce a grimace (or four).
It's hard to say how I actually feel about this film, given my preference for the serious over the humorous (despite my tempered appreciation for the Braindead-style over-the-top approach). And let's be honest, this film had what was probably the least erotic sex scene in a slasher film I've probably seen in...ever. The humorous appropriation of Nazi imagery doesn't offend me in the least, but it doesn't particularly get me excited, either. The locations, however, were suitably isolated and really very beautiful, offering something unique in place of the typical wooded lake kind of setting, even if it meant less scantily clad coeds. But, purely as a zombie film, Dead Snow is a bit too frantic, and lacks the shambling feel of a classic zombie movie. It's really more of a monster-in-the-woods slasher kind of flick, especially of the tongue-in-cheek, self-aware variety. Whether that's a plus or a minus is up to you.
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