Friday 25 May 2018

Kanika

"Kanika" aka "कनिका" (2017, Pushkar Manohar, Ankit (Sunshine)) is a supernatural revenge horror from India. It is in Marathi language and is available with English subtitles.


Kaushik (Sharad Ponkshe) is a well-off doctor working in his own hospital. He is greedy and happy to flaunt laws in order to receive more money. After his security guard leaves, citing ghosts, Kaushik begins to see the spectre of a little girl haunting him. Soon, he begins to lose friends and colleagues under mysterious circumstances. His wife, Vaishali (Chaitrali Gupte) begins to worry that her husband has lost his mind... The little girl is after revenge, but possibly death is too quick?


The film covers a very polarising subject: abortion. It's a subject that can be difficult to understand across different cultures, genders, religions and social circles. Within different groups, issues with the subject can vary greatly. The main theme behind this film is to shine a light on the practice in the region of terminating pregnancies because of the gender of the child and its resultant social standing. In the case described within the plot, the mother did not want to do this and thus, a vengeful ghost is born.


I have not had as many opportunities to watch Indian horror as I have Japanese, European and American. The film is fairly low-budget with a few plot holes and some long winded dialogue, but it does have a certain charm to it. Our protagonist (or maybe he's the real antagonist?), Kaushik, is a fairly unlikeable person; A greedy and cowardly man who displays some fairly humorous behaviour in his attempt to save himself. There's also a scene with a treadmill where they made the actor mime walking which was decidedly distracting.


Kanika herself has a few good moments where she appears in different places, and similarly to the vengeful spirits within The Grudge and Ring franchises, her appearance is bedraggled with hair covering her face. There are a few scenes where she's not used as effectively and her story does not reach a fully satisfying conclusion.


All in all, the film is fairly low impact. It's not scary enough to make it a thrilling horror, it's not daft enough to venture into the cult B-movie arena and, although it carries a strong social message, it is not delivered particularly well - opting for a more sledgehammer style.






[Image: Ankit]
Hani

The Babysitter

"The Babysitter" (2017, McG, Netflix) is a comedy horror with plenty of gore.


Cole (Judah Lewis) is a 12 year old kid who gets bullied a lot at school. His only solace is that his babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving), is super hot and pretty cool. And she also plays down the part where she's his babysitter. When his parents go on a weekend away, Cole creeps out of bed to spy on Bee and her friends having a party in the living room, but he soon discovers that the teens are up to something much worse than drinking alcohol.... human sacrifice. Can Cole get over his crippling fear of, well, everything in time to save himself? And will he finally get his first ever kiss? Only time will tell in this gory flick.


While it's far from a genre-defining, ground breaking innovation, the film delivers exactly what it needs to; humour, gore and a host of disposable characters who get to die in a bunch of gruesome ways. Our collection of would-be Satan worshippers cover all the usual stereotypical bases (eg. jock, cheerleader, etc...). Only Bee and Cole truly stand out as characters who break stereotype.


The film spends a good while setting up the relationship between Bee and Cole. He fancies her. He's awkward. She's easy going and a little wild. Cole tells Bee all of his secrets, while unbeknownst to him, she uses this against him any way that she can.


When the murder and mayhem begin the film does not scrimp on the gore and we see a lot of innovative kill scenes which expertly mix humour and ick-factor without becoming too silly.
Gore aside, the film also makes use of interesting camera perspective, a lot of 80s-feeling tropes (despite being based in present day) and just enough character depth to instil a sense of betrayal from Bee when we find out her intentions.


All in all, I found "The Babysitter" to be a fun and worthwhile watch which I've even revisited on occasion.


[Image: Netflix]

Hani

Monday 21 May 2018

Troll 2

"Troll 2" (1990, Claudio Fargasso, Filmirage) is an infamously bad film about a fairly strange 'average' family taking a holiday in a town that's not only boring; it's infested by goblins. Luckily the goblins are vegetarians... Also, noteworthy that this film is not a real sequel.

Joshua (Michael Stephenson) appears to be an everyday kid. If an everyday kid talks to the ghost of his deceased grandfather, that is. He lives with his mother and father; a misguided couple who don't seem to comprehend what a vacation is; and his teenaged sister.

The family head to the town of Nilbog (genius, right?) where they are creepily welcomed by the locals. But luckily for them, Grandpa Seth (Robert Ormsby), warns Joshua that the townsfolk are actually goblins in disguise and that, if the family eat the food offered to them, they will be turned into vegetation which the goblins will eat!

Can they avoid a fate worse than death? Can they escape the clutches of the world's most melodramatic witch/goblin (Deborah Reed)? Why can't the goblins just grow their own vegetables like everyone else?

A horror comedy so bad that it's perfectly watchable. The acting, with the ironic exception of young Joshua, is entertainingly stilted and the outlandish plot manages to be both mediocre and hilarious. The goblin costumes are also reminiscent of homemade Halloween costumes. A real trashy movie that every B-movie fan should see; even if it's just for a good laugh.


[Image: Filmirage]

Hani

Wednesday 16 May 2018

ABRUPTIO: Support the online crowdfunder

"ABRUPTIO" is a feature film using puppets. It was written, produced and directed by experienced husband and wife team, Evan and Kerry Marlowe.

**Update** Thanks to all the support for this Crowdfunding campaign, "Abruptio" has moved into the next stage of production! I, for one, am so excited! 


The film is an homage to 70s horror and centres around a man (puppet) waking to find that he has had an explosive device implanted into his neck by a devious mastermind. He must do what he's instructed, no matter how unsavoury, or risk being blown up!


Viewers will be familiar with many of the cast (which includes some personal favourites of mine) including James Marsters, Robert Englund, Sid Haig, Jordan Peele, Hana Mae Lee, Christopher McDonald and Rich Fulcher.


Prop and effects nerds like me will also recognise the name of creature creator Jeff Farley who has worked on many well-known titles including 1989's Pet Sematrary.


The film is nearing the next stages and, if like me you fancy helping out, Kerry Marlowe has recently set up an online crowd fund on Seed&Spark to keep the project moving on (and finance some more fake blood, which I'm fully on board with).


You can find the fund over on www.seedandspark.com - here
You can also find more information about the project at www.abruptio.com


Let's help get this movie made!



Hani