kellym40 film review

Another horror classic remade with ‘The Wolfman’

Rating 3/5

In 2010, Joe Johnston directed a remake of the 1941 horror classic The Wolf Man, written by Curt Siodmak. New writers Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self penned this remake and instead of updating to a more contemporary time, they set it in late nineteenth century England.

It can be said that The Wolf Man is to werewolves what Dracula is to vampires. So this remake is not just another horror film, it’s the Wolf Man. In that, there appears to be some big acting shoes to fill from Lon Chaney Jr’s performance in the 1941 classic. The role went to Benicio Del Toro, a fine actor in his own right, in this remake and did a fair job with the portrayal of Lawrence Talbot.

The story begins as Sir John Talbot’s (Anthony Hopkins) son has disappeared. Ben’s fiancé, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) writes to Ben’s brother, Lawrence, and pleas for him to return home to help find her fiancé. Upon arrival home, a body has been found. Lawrence sees his remains and then embarks on a hunt to find the beast responsible for his brother’s death. He is led to a gypsy camp and is soon attacked by a creature, which is half-man/half-wolf. A gypsy woman tends to his wounds, but pronounces Lawrence to be cursed. And, at the time of the next full moon, Lawrence transforms into the creature and goes on a bloody rampage.

Del Toro played the part of a tortured soul, caught between a normal life and a sort of living hell. He brought those characteristics to the character with a quiet desperation of needing to escape the hell in which he was living. The great Anthony Hopkins brought the right amount of caring and sentiment to the role as a man who has lost a son and wife. But he also had the mystery about him that were revealed in the climactic moments of the film. Blunt’s Gwen Conliffe had the spirit of the “damsel in distress,” but also a strong, courageous woman trying to uncover her fiancé’s disappearance.

What worked here in this film were the performances set against the time period and Danny Elfman’s music coupled with Shelly Jonson’s cinematography. It is settings like these that really bring more life into these horror stories with the vast countryside, foggy moors and a rocky waterfall. And although the performances were nothing extraordinary, they did have a sense of purpose and believability.

The CGI however, is what missed for me in the film. There’s something to be said for the old makeup special effects instead of the use of modern CGI. It does seem that CGI is used a lot in today’s filmmaking process, but sometime it can be overdone, and when not done right, it can appear sort of ridiculous. As with the case in this film, the effects made the werewolves appear more grotesque in nature and didn’t appear to fit in with the style of the film. This made the CGI a bit clumsy and out of place. But even with its flaws and average performances, the film did keep me entertained and hold my interest.

kellym40 film review

‘Mirrors 2’ fails to cast same reflection as its predecessor

Rating 2/5

Two years after ‘Mirrors’ was released, the sequel came and did not carry over any characters or story from the first film, but created new characters and a new story. However, the story and plot were very similar to the original film from which it is based, ‘Into the Mirror’ by Sung-ho Kim. A few changes where made to some of the characters’ backstory and plot lines, but the film did remain similar in tone and plot as the original ‘Into the Mirror.’

As I wrote in my review of the remake, ‘Mirrors,’ the original film droned on more like a slow moving suspenseful political thriller. But from the opening sequence of the 2010 remake to its final moments, ‘Mirrors’ captured my interest. This film didn’t. I think it was due in large part that it was very similar to the original. So, this sequel was basically a remake of the original, whereas the first remake was a little more inventive and creative in the retelling of the story.

The film centers around a man, Max Matheson (Nick Stahl), who is recovering from a traumatic car accident in which his fiancé is killed. This differs from the original Korean film and the 2010 remake in which the main character is a former detective recovering from the fatal accidental shooting of the main character’s former partner. In both the original and the 2010 remake, the main character has to deal with that incident and takes a job as a night security guard in the process.

Rounding out the cast are Emmanuelle Vaugier, Christy Carlson Romano, William Katt, Lawrence Turner, Jon Michael Davis, and Stephanie Honore’. These are the key players in the film. Katt plays Max’s father who gives him a job as a night guard at a new store reopening after a fire destroyed the first store. The store is called the Mayflower, as in the original. Here Max begins to see images of a girl, Eleanor Reigns (Horore’), and tries to unravel the mystery of her identity. Vaugier plays Elizabeth, Eleanor’s sister, who is trying to find her Eleanor. Three of Max’s work associates; Keller Landreaux (Turner), Jenna McCarty (Romano), and Ryan Parker (Jon Michael Davis), are all tied in with the girl’s disappearance.

I believe the film suffers here from Matt Venne’s script, which was trying to return to the original source and basically telling the same plot with a few changes. Victor Garcia directed the film at a pace that just appeared unimaginative and seemingly uneventful. I didn’t feel the characters were drawn out and three-dimensional enough to really care about them, except for Max, but even Stahl gave a lackluster performance.

To me this film’s ending seemed to wrap up the film in a somewhat happy ending. Although it was fairly gratifying to see it end as it did, I just didn’t care enough about the characters throughout to really appreciate it. The only seemingly redeeming quality was the fact that it was shorter than its predecessors and ran just under 90 minutes.

 

 

 

kellym40 film review

Reflections present a world of suspense in ‘Mirrors’

 

Rating 3.5/5

 In 2008, Alexandre Aja directed ‘Mirrors’ in which he co-wrote with Gregory Levasseur, and based on the film ‘Into the Mirror’ by Sung-ho Kim. ‘Mirrors’ did improve upon the seemingly droning original from 2003. And it wasn’t due to the fact it was Korean and subtitled.

The original played more like a slow moving suspenseful thriller than a horror film to me. ‘Mirrors’ took elements from the original and made a more intriguing story. I feel it still played more like a suspense film, but it contained more elements of horror and a little action thrown in for some good measure. From the opening of this film to its final moments, ‘Mirrors’ captured my interest.

The film stars Kiefer Sutherland (“The Lost Boys,” the “Young Guns” films, and most notably from acclaimed television series “24”) as Ben Carson, a former detective who is on leave for killing his partner in an accidental shooting. This follows the original film as well. Estranged from his wife, Amy (Paula Patton) and children Daisy (Erica Gluck) and Michael (Cameron Boyce) since the dismissal from the force while the matter is investigated, Ben crashes at his sister’s place, Angela (Amy Smart).

Ben attempts to build his life after taking to drugs and alcohol since his dismissal. He lands a job as a night watchman at a once regal department store, the Mayflower, which caught fire. As he begins his new job, he notices strange things happening and seeing other reflections in the mirrors that aren’t there.

Without going into great detail and avoiding many spoilers, an evil spirit inhabits the world inside the mirrors in which Ben systematically uncovers facts about the world behind the mirrors. The evil begins to target Ben’s family. This storyline differs from the original where it was focused on the main character who did not have a family as Ben Carson does in this remake. However, I’ll be remiss to not mention this film spawned a sequel in which the plot and story remained a little closer to the original.

As I mentioned, this remake by Aja (who previously teamed with Levasseur and wrote and directed 2006’s “The Hills Have Eyes”), brought in a different storyline that brought more into the film. I don’t think the film was perfect, but still brought an element of suspense and horror that the original failed to do. I think it nearly created the kind of suspense as Alfred Hitchcock in that it seemed to build the mystery and suspense throughout the film, which kept me in it. Although, I don’t think there is anyone who built suspense as well as Hitchcock did. Where the film somewhat failed was in the characters. While I do believe the film had good characters and they all played a part in the developing story, some of the characters seemed a little underdeveloped for my taste. Since the story revolved around Ben and his family, those where the primary characters, but Ben’s wife and sister did not appear as three-dimensional as I thought could have been.

I also feel the film’s ending was, to some extent, ambiguous. That part of the film remained close to the original’s ending, but I’m not sure if it was warranted with the overall theme and story of the remake. The special features from this film showed an alternate ending, which I think I liked even less. I do think the ending they chose was a little more gratifying than the alternative though. Overall, I enjoyed the film. I found it to be interesting and entertaining with a good concept, story, characters, and dialogue.