Movie Review - The Evil In Us

The Evil In Us

2016

The Cast

This film had so much going for it... and, sorry to say, so much going against it.

Here is your basic cabin in the wood on a lake horror yarn.  A group of twenty-something friends decided to spend Independence Day together at a cabin one of their fathers has just bought.  Unfortunately, something is wrong with the coke they've brought along and soon the madness begins.

So what has the film got going for it...  The Director, Jason William Lee, has a decent eye for composition and some of the camera shots are really nice and interesting.  The opening credits are the Horror genre's version of a Bond movie opening sequence; this is both beautiful and disturbing - I loved it and it really piqued my curiosity for the rest of the film.  I also really loved the lake section, filled with lens flare, haze, and colour defusing.  Also, the simple distortions, which represented the druggies vision, worked well.

The Story... Lee has come up with a secret organisation who are carrying out experiments on people they've kidnapped.  This reminded me of Stephen King's clandestine "The Company" out of Firestarter.  I do like a good conspiracy.

The Characters...  Though most are your stereotypical cast it was the end sequence that really sent a cold shiver down my spine.  The Husband and Wife looking over their guineapigs - this scene is still in my mind; nice work Mr Lee.

The Special Effects...  Most are basic, and nothing new to write about, however, the girl on the bed is awesome.  Just look at that chewed through left ankle... it's hanging on by a thread of flesh.  Ouch!

But then there are the faults...  Though I liked most of Lee's shooting, the one thing which really did diminish the film for me, especially because it had been so good up to this point, the hunger-raving cannibals.  It would have been nice to keep the ingenuity coming instead of just going for the mindless running about, growling, and biting.  How much scarier would they be if they still had a rational mind?  They could have become cunning instead of just single-mindedly fulfilling their baser urges.  Also, the attacks and kills could have been choreographed better.  Lee does a good job at structuring his shots, but here it just gets messy.  A major let down.

The Story & The Characters... in a lot of ways reminded me of Cabin Fever, it would have been good to create a couple of original characters instead of relying on the tried and tested.  Though these are twenty-somethings, you could easily interchange them with any of the innumerable teens that usually end up in these situations.  But hey, this is a horror film, so this is expected... to a degree... but it does wear thin.  Also, did it have to take part in a secluded cabin on a hard to get to island... which, surprise surprise, has no cell reception... go figure!

However, the good does outweigh the bad, though this could have been a horror movie to talk about.  At least it's worth a watch, if only once.  So I'd recommend this to fans of the mad professor and cannibals.

I give this a maddening and drug-induced crazy 6 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Jeepers Creepers III

Jeepers Creepers III

2017

The Cast

Friday Night Is Fright Night so I was happy to see that two of the better fright films have new Chapters to their stories.  Therefore, I was looking forward to watching both this movie and the gorefest Jigsaw...  How dismayed I was.

I love the original Jeepers Creepers, which is well filmed and full of atmosphere and tension.  Even the sequel wasn't too bad, which is to be expected as JC's creator, Victor Salva, had written and directed both.  And since this is his baby also what could go wrong?

Well, pretty much everything.

For one thing, there was very little creepiness around and only a smidgen of tension.  This could be because Salva opted to film most of the scenes in glorious daylight.  As is shown numerous horror films, This is a hard choice for the directors as it becomes harder to create an intense nervousness and the eeriness the genre thrives on.  So, instead of getting the audience on the edge of their seats; they're nearly put to sleep watching an unoriginal bate and catch hunter flick.  The bright sunlight also shows the daemon in all its glory.  Unfortunately, it also renders him unscary.  At least in the darker shadows of the night, the audience can let their minds and imagination run riot.  This is better than most writers can script as it allows the viewer to add personal elements to the fear.  Don't get me wrong there are a couple of scenes that really work well.  My favourite of which is the duel between JC and Sheriff Tashtego.  There are some nice shots here; The silhouette shot with the sun behind JC and the distant shot at the end of the duel.  However, there are too few of this style of shot to keep interest high.  I think that if we actually saw JC feeding, as is stated he does though we hardly ever see, this extra bit of gore, if filmed correctly, would at least have added a bit of tenseness.

As for the story, it's basically still the same time period of the first film; this is just a few more days of his 23-day killing and feeding spree.  However, there's now an elite group of Creeper hunters, who have now turned up on the scene.  This is the part of the story I found far-fetched.  JC comes out every 23 years in a different part of America, to kill and feed.  We don't even know how long he's been doing this, so it seems very unlikely that news of him would have got out and about, especially to the point where a hunting team would be patrolling for him.  To make this believable we needed more background on JC and the hunters themselves.  The only part I found entertaining, in a good way, was Meg Foster as Gaylen Brandon, the grandmother medium, being haunted by her dead son, who had been killed by JC.  This story arc was good'ish and wove into the main easily, though it didn't go far enough.  It should have added a lot more to the mythos of JC but for some reason, Salva decided not to pursue this line, which in turn weakened the story and film.  There's a section where both Gaylen and the Sheriff touch a remanent of JC and supposedly see just what the creature is and how to stop it.  Unjustifiably, neither one of them talk about it or share the knowledge with the rest of the soldiers on how to kill it, which in the long run appears to be inconsequential to JC anyway.

Then there's the acting...  Apart from Meg Foster, the rest of the cast are well below par in this film.  I've watched Stan Shaw (Sheriff Tashtego) in other roles and I've always enjoyed his performance.  Except that in this flick he doesn't appear to get in touch with his inner Tashtego and just opts to shout a lot.  The worst for this is Michael Sirow as Miller.  Miller is meant to be holding a deep-rooted anger for JC after watching him rip his father's heart out of his chest.  Though what we get is just the shouting without the emotion.

I'd only recommend that followers of the Jeepers Creepers Saga should watch this one, though only if there's nothing else worth watching... like the original Jeepers Creepers, which is way superior to this one.

I give this a daylight disgrace of 4.25 out of 10.

The Trailer