Film Filter:Off - Scream 4

Film Filter: Off- If you're a fan of the three predecessor movies, you'll most likely probably maybe like this one as well.

Pros- If you're going to continue a scary movie franchise, it is absolutely key to keep the same characters as the original films, or it loses its validity.  All of the Scream movies have been pretty true to keeping the survivors the same people, and this one is no exception.  Also, Campbell and Arquette look just as good as they did in the original.  Cox...not so much.
   There would be no point in watching these movies if the identity of the killer was apparent.  The whole allure of these movies is the anonymity of the murderer, so that's pretty much what this film has going for it.  Kudos to them for a good twist as to who it was.

Cons- One word: predictability.  Without the slight twist of who the killer ends up being, this movie is just plain old gimmicky, stifled, and predictable.  There is not ONE new idea conceived that was not originally birthed in another one of the three films prior.  I guess the excuse for this cop-out method is that the killings are supposed to be modeled after the original, but it almost becomes an issue of, "Why not just watch Scream, then?"  It IS a better film, as it was the first.
   Can we all also agree that the baloney in the beginning regarding the movie within a movie concept got old, really fast?  Some of the cameos were cute, but it was a little over the top.
  Alright, we can now talk about acting.  Campbell- good, Arquette- good, Panettiere- good, everyone else- shitty.  It doesn't help that the script was poorly written and the character development was pretty much nonexistent.  It's also quite funny to me that, at the beginning during the movie-within-a-movie segment, the characters are all describing what sucks about most scary movies, and Scream doesn't think to take their own advice.  At LEAST when the two girls were tearing apart Saw 4 (no pun intended) they mentioned that the lack of character development was offset by the gore, whereas Scream 4 has no character development AND no gore.
   Lastly, when will people ever learn?  You're in a town renowned for a serial killer, with a serial killer loose, and yet EVERYONE is f@#%&*$ stupid about EVERYTHING THEY DO!  Let's keep the window open, let's keep the doors unlocked, let's slam the door in the killer's face and then dry-hump the door to see if I can hear them, etc.  It gets really old, and super duper frustrating.

Wrap up- Overall, I was not impressed in any capacity with this film.  The acting, dialogue, and scenarios all left so much to be desired, and it was incredibly frustrating and laughable from pretty much beginning to end.

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Film Filter:Off - Chronicle

Film Filter- Off: If you check out some of the reviews on this film, it looks to be very promising.  It's a little bit of a blend of the trending super hero genre with the found-footage style of documentation, so it's definitely unique.  Depending on your taste in thriller/action movies, though, it could prove to be a real bust.

Pros-  One of the things that I don't think many people will appreciate about the film is the emotional turmoil that the main character endures.  Although it's common to see pre-super heroes struggle with confidence or acceptance, this delves much deeper into a very dark and troubling circumstance in Andrew's life, which I found to be quite intriguing.
   The often comedic and realistic high school interactions between the characters was also a pleasant surprise, which is why I found the dual genre idea to be somewhat effective.  It was sort of a melting pot of ideas put into a shakily shot film, which makes it a little bit more realistic feeling.  It was also enjoyable to watch the evolution of their super powers, be it a successful first attempt or an epic failure.  Again, it felt a lot more realistic than being able to master your powers instantaneously.

Cons- Unfortunately, I found this movie to have more cons than it did pros.  A lot of that had to do with the fact that it attempted to feel so realistic, and succeeded a lot of the time, and then took a very drastic turn into unrealistic.  I mean, you've got to know as a director that a fictitious super hero film can only feel realistic to a certain extent.  The problem with this one is that it was such an abrupt shift that it was almost laughable how quickly the situation lost control.
  One of the reviews I read alluded to the fact that this is not a family friendly super hero film, as it has many dark twists and themes in it.  I would agree, but I would almost go a step further to argue that most of the underlying themes are not of a super hero film at all.  It seemed that the focus of the film was on Andrew's struggles to be accepted by his classmates and family, and his inability to make friends.  Once he receives his powers, however, this troubled teen is given the most powerful tool that a depressed, bullied teen could be given: a means to revenge.  Is it still a superhero film?  Yeah, sort of, but to deny that it's heavily themed toward bullying and teenage angst would be inaccurate.
   As a film that is attempting to be viewed from a first person perspective, it also creates the tendency for the film to drag, as this one did in several different occasions.  On the flip side, when something profound DID happen, it was almost like we got slapped in the face with it.  The intensity of the plot seemed to move more like pitch frequencies, rather than following a standard evolution of a slow, but steady lead in to a climax with a resolution not long after.
   Lastly, it's hard to achieve the level of realism this film attempted while also adding the special effects needed to make the story make sense.  A lot of the effects looked pretty cheap and fake and took me out of the film...the few times I was actually into it.

Wrap up- It's really hard for me to put my finger on why I thought this movie sucked.  What I think it really boils down to is the lack of harmony between trying to be realistic and attempting a fictional story about super hero teens.  The most beloved part about super hero films is their ability to take you out of reality, so to try to contradict that, with the addition of making the main character deranged and revenge seeking, made the film a little schizophrenic.

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Film Filter: Off- The Woman in Black

Film Filter: Off- So I had literally heard about this movie the mere day before I had seen it.  It had come highly recommended, so I figured why not watch it.  I was a little apprehensive to see Radcliffe in his first real breakaway role from Harry Potter, but the movie certainly did not disappoint.

Pros- To properly portray this type of film, you need a very strong lead actor, which I'm happy to say they received with Radcliffe.  This is the type of introspective first person thriller not unlike I am Legend or Castaway, where the lead character spends most of their time alone and must captivate our interest through a majority of silence.  Again, Radcliffe delivers.
   I am also very enamored with the time period in the film, the late 1800s early 1900s.  I think most horror films try to make themselves look realistic, so the obvious ploy would be to set  the story in a modern day time period to make it feel more "real".  After watching this film, however, I would argue the opposite to be true.  Without the modern technological marvels of cell phones, laptops, vehicles, and electricity, characters in a scene are more vulnerable and don't have an easy way out of the situation.  It's a much more frightening thought to be without the ability to communicate with anyone and to feel totally alone and helpless.  Although modern age scary movies try to attempt this concept with power outages, no reception, flat tires, and dead batteries, I find it a little less extreme of a situation when they have the resources for instant communication and they become rendered useless, than when those resources are not available at all because they do not exist yet.
   Something I found I had a love/hate relationship with about this film was its lack of "dead giveaway" music.  Being a musician, I always tend to listen for the background music in a critical part of the plot so I can hear the climactic part and expect what's going to pop out and scare me.  It's sort of an unwritten rule that this happens in horror movies, and even when the music cuts out to try to fool you and they scare you anyway, there's some type of predictability.  This film does NOT utilize background music, pretty much ever.  Therefore each moment feels more like real time and the audience finds themselves literally on the edge of their seat in suspense, as anything could happen at any moment.  Pretty effective, I'd say, as I jumped out of my seat no less than three times.
   Oh, how ever so slowly we received all the pieces to this mysterious puzzle, which is an extremely effective way of putting a story together.  It was pretty much perfect timing because as soon as things felt like they might begin to drag, we got a new piece of information to work with, and we continued to receive more and more pieces to that puzzle up until the very end.  Excellent work, yet again.

Cons- I don't have many for this film, but one that I heard from many people was that "it was too much screaming in your face".  Okay, this is a valid point, but can we rationalize why we go to scary movies in a theater?  It's to see if how frightened we can become.  From an analytical standpoint did the creepy images, screaming faces, and pop-up moments become redundant?  Yes.  But did they also scare the pants off of most people in the theater?  Yes.  It's all about give and take, people.
   One of my most common complaints regarding this genre of film is the stupidity of the main character in their attempts to investigate clearly unsafe circumstances.  This film is no exception, however we see that Radcliffe's character is a saddened, yet compassionate man who is constantly out to make the world a better place.  I think we're to assume he's trying to see if someone is hurt, or in trouble, but come on Dan- you're in a haunted house with the CREEPIEST of CREEPY dolls in the upstairs room.  Use your head.  You can also argue that, should he have known there were terrible things happening in the loud rooms he investigates, he really can't leave the house, so he might as well go up there and face it rather than become surprised later.

Wrap up- If there's a movie that I've reviewed that I could recommend the MOST it would by far be this one.  I think it delivers an almost flawless recipe for horror, and leaves you constantly on the edge of your seat, wanting to know more about what's going on until the very end.  Very well done, Potter.

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