Shyamalan proves his horror worth with 'Devil'

M. Night Shyamalan’s Devil is a claustrophobic and overwrought thriller, offering up a strong footing as the first instalment in his up-and-coming ‘Night Chronicles’ trilogy.

The film works off a supposed old wives tale wherein the devil torments a group of sinners before dragging their souls back with him to hell. Religious and Hispanic security guard, Ramirez, tells the story of how the devil comes to earth, posing as a corrupt human, and brings together this ‘devil’s meeting’. As the story goes, the series of events starts with a suicide and then the eventual deaths of whoever the devil picks to be his victims. In this particular instance, a thug, a blackmailer, a kleptomaniac, a conman and a murderer are all trapped together in an elevator. Unbeknownst to this group of miscreants, the devil is among them.

Sceptical detective and recovering alcoholic, Bowden, is brought to the scene where a lift has mysteriously stuck itself between two floors of a busy city skyscraper. Unable to communicate properly with the elevator’s inhabitants and with limited resource to restore the lift to full workability, all the police and security guards can do is watch the fear unfold on a small surveillance camera. The panic of the five trapped strangers is magnified by their close proximity, so when the lights flicker and the bumping and crashing begins, they are all thrown into a terrifying turmoil. This is when the devil claims his first victim. Starting with the salesman being impaled by the lift mirror, every time the lights go out, someone suffers a gruesome and painful death. To their captive audience, it is instantly assumed that one of the five is a homicidal maniac, biding his/her time and waiting to kill their fellow inmates. Only Ramirez, who thinks he saw the devil’s face flicker on the CCTV footage, is convinced that something supernatural is afoot.

Bowden initially refuses to embrace an idea that defies all logic, but quickly it all becomes too impossible and he starts to think that maybe the devil is behind it all. As the group is rapidly whittled down, Detective Bowden encourages an increased effort to rescue them from certain death.

It soon becomes apparent that the devil doesn’t want anyone interfering in his plans and even causes the death or injury of any innocents that try to get in his way. Not only that but it is ultimately discovered that the viewers watching the events unfold on CCTV aren’t there by mere coincidence either; everything has been carefully orchestrated by the devil.

With a classic ominous horror score and clever cinematography, primarily sweeping upside-down shots of Philadelphia, the film is strengthened by its strong attention to detail. Colours and numbers also play a great significance. Not wanting to ruin the ending on this one, I won’t reveal who the ‘devil’ turns out to be, but I guarantee the film carries off a ritual M. Night twist and will keep you guessing and perpetually on the edge of your seat...

Despite the sceptical comments of the press, Shyamalan storms into the horror genre, emerging a success and proving that Signs and The Sixth Sense weren’t just a couple of flukes. Let’s hope part two of the trilogy (rumoured to be named ‘Reincarnate’) can continue what Shyamalan has started with Devil. If you still have a little bit of faith in this talented writer, or simply need that faith restored, Devil is definitely a must-see. I was shocked that on the second weekend of opening I was sitting in a pretty empty cinema screen. A shame really, as I’d give the film 8/10.

Another action-packed zombie-fest from Paul Anderson

World-famed gaming franchise, Resident Evil, has returned yet again for another action-packed zombie-mutant movie in the form of third sequel, Resident Evil: Afterlife.

The film gets off to a promising start in the opening credits by travelling back four years to see how the t-virus and the Umbrella Corporation gained its foothold. This introductory scene is set in a rainy part of Japan and has some very strong cinematography, primarily when the camera focuses on a young girl in the middle of a busy pedestrian crossing, symbolically set amongst a ceiling of umbrellas. She slowly meets eyes with an older man and then instantly pounces on him, ripping into his neck and starting the spread of the T-Virus.

Picking up from the end of the last film, the first 20minutes of Resident Evil: Afterlife focuses on Alice (Milla Jovovich) successfully destroying the underground base of Umbrella and its inhabitants, with the help of her trusty clones. Albeit flawless in delivery, the initial Matrix-esque fight scene is just too long and a bit excessive – so much so that I was reasonably pleased when Wesker, Umbrella’s latest head honcho, escapes in a plane and blows the HQ (and Alice’s clones) to smithereens.

Wesker soon discovers the ‘original Alice’ lurking in the back of his plane, and after a brief stand-off, manages to stab her in the neck with a syringe containing the cure for the t-virus. Sure enough, Alice manages to escape from Wesker’s clutches but thanks to the anti-virus, has now lost all her supernatural powers.

The film maintains a reasonable storyline; despite some evident plotholes. Alice, in her returned-to-human state heads to Alaska to find Claire and the rest of her friends, only to discover that the whole Arcadia rescue mission was a farce, a trap set by Umbrella so that they had new specimens to experiment on. Only Claire has been left behind, and even she has been marred by memory loss, courtesy of an electrical parasite from Umbrella. Once Claire has regained her memories, the pair of them head back to LA to find and save their friends, having to battle a zombie or two on the way.

Unfortunately, despite a reasonable enough beginning, Resident Evil: Afterlife loses its way by not explaining enough about what’s going on. Followers of the games will be fine, and probably even pleased to see some newer game concepts taken into the film, but any other viewer would be left with gazillions of questions, ranging from: ‘where did Chris Redfield and Wesker come from?’ to, ‘Who’s that big guy with the axe?’ (The Executioner), and ‘why are the zombies even more mutated all of a sudden?!’

Although this film may be harder to follow than its predecessors, I’m still convinced that Resident Evil fanboys who follow the games religiously will be satisfied with the level of action, and the likeness between film and game. Resident Evil: Afterlife makes up for a lack of dialogue by retaining the traditional Resident Evil ethos; killing a shitload of zombies and looking hot doing it. The film also maintains its usual tense, edge of your seat feeling, significantly magnified by the use of 3D.

Aided by the omnipresent RealD technology, some great post-apocalyptic SFX, and Jovovich kicking ass just as much as usual, I give it 6/10.

Oh, and just a side-note, make sure you stay past the credits – there’s one of those sneaky ‘extra bits’ afterwards. And yes. It sets the film up for yet another continuation…

One hell of a Jacuzzi ride!

Serving up a platter of laughs, eighties frolics and, lets face it, one damn good Jacuzzi, Hot Tub Time Machine outdoes itself with some stellar Hollywood comedic-types and the ability to mock it’s own storyline.

Hot Tub Time Machine follows four deadbeats who are down on life, love and have generally lost momentum: Adam (John Cusack) is an uptight insurance broker who has been heartlessly dumped by his girlfriend; Jacob (Clark Duke) is a geeky teen, unable to leave his basement and glued to his laptop; Nick (Craig Robinson) is a down on his luck ex-rocker who now cleans up dog crap for a living; and Lou (Rob Corddry) is a steaming drunk whose family hates him.

After a supposed suicide attempt from Lou and in an effort to escape from the ever-increasing rut the four of them are slipping into, the four guys decide to take a weekend break to their old ski-resort haunt, Kodiak Valley. The hotel is nothing like it was in their eighties heyday and is significantly run down – even the bell boy is missing an arm! Luckily, the guys are fortunate enough to have a shiny looking hot tub on their veranda, which they waste no time in jumping into.

A mountain of booze, a squirrel and one can of illegal energy drink ‘Chernobley’ later, and the troubled foursome are not only suffering from pruney fingers and a killer hangover – they’re also surrounded by eighties paraphernalia. With brightly coloured lycra, cassette players, giant mobile phones (just like Dom Joly) and the fact that Michael Jackson is still white, they soon discover that they’ve been inexplicably fired back to the eighties; Winterfest ’86 to be precise.

With the time-bending hot tub fried, Adam, Nick and Lou embrace their eighties counterparts. As it goes with all time travelling movies, Jacob is quick to inform them that they have to repeat exactly what happened the first time round, or they may change the future. For Adam this means being stabbed in the eye with a fork, whilst Lou gets beaten up and Nick performs awfully with his band and gets booed off stage. Without even intending to, they do things insanely different but still end up getting injured in some way or another. A mysterious repairman, in the form of Chevy Chase, appears to tell them they shouldn’t be changing things and that they must find a can of Chernobley to get home as that was what spilled on the hot tub electrics, turning it into a Hot Tub Time Machine!

Together they hunt down and recover the Chernobley, which had been stolen by the guys who beat Lou up, and rush to get home. Lou, confessing he really was trying to kill himself in the present, stays in the past, hoping he can change his life for the better. He wasn’t wrong. Adam, Nick and Jacob return to the present to find Lou has exploited his knowledge of the future and is a billionaire, making his money from search engine, ‘Lougle’ and rock band ‘The Motley Lou’. Take that Butterfly Effect!

Hot Tub Time Machine is a guilty-pleasure comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The storyline is nothing but ridiculous and it seems the writers knew this and just did the film for a bit of a giggle. Hearty laugh out loud moments, a corking eighties soundtrack and some of my favourite comedy faces gives this one: 6.5/10.

It doesn’t have Marty McFly and a flux capacitor, but it’s still pretty good going.

An increasing pile of dead people and a seemingly innocent child? Never. Time to open Case 39.

Case 39, starring Renee Zellweger as social worker Emily, is a supernatural thriller that extorts the repetitive Damien-style ‘devil child’ story.

Emily’s new case, funnily enough her 39th one, is with the Sullivans and their daughter Lilith. On the surface, the Sullivans are a dysfunctional family who have it drilled into their heads that Lilith is some demon spawn that needs to be sent to hell. One scene in particular, where the Sullivans barricade their daughter into a large oven, is quite harrowing and really highlights the sadistic nature of child abuse. However, this is one of the films only saving graces.

After a rather dramatic rescue, workaholic Emily manages to get the Sullivans checked into a first-class psychiatric facility, leaving Lilith in her capable hands. Obviously it becomes clear all too quickly that Lilith isn’t all sweetness and light as originally observed and Emily soon finds the people closest to her dying bizarre deaths; most notably the supposed suicide of love interest and child psychiatrist Doug, played by Bradley Cooper. Confessing earlier in the film to Lilith that he has a fear of hornets, rather fittingly Doug finds himself locked in his own bathroom with hornets flying out of every orifice. Not pretty. Although Doug’s death is suitably disturbing, the film fails in making him a worthy love interest for Emily and also struggles in introducing the character effectively to the viewer.

As things get progressively worse, Emily resorts to working longer hours than usual, leaving Lilith home alone, hiding all her case files so Lilith can’t contact any of her case targets, and even putting deadbolts on her bedroom door. It soon becomes apparent however, that it’ll take more than a few locks to keep Lilith at bay, and Emily resigns herself to the fact that she needs to kill the child, or the demon inside of her. Despite several attempts to get rid of Lilith, Emily soon discovers that she is able to survive more deaths than Jason. Eventually she resorts to driving them both into a river, finally killing the beast (we hope!) and nearly fatally harming herself. Sadly for Emily, by this point she has already lost her best buddy, potential boyfriend and has no home to speak of. Bummer.

The film left me with one lingering question: why had the Sullivans never thought of drowning Lilith in the first place? If it was really that easy, then why the hell not? The ending was a bit of a cop-out for me, after all, would a bit of water really kill a little girl who can murder people with a mere thought, survive a house fire and who is insusceptible to sedation?! Don’t think so…

Case 39 succeeds in offering up several tense and supernatural moments but these are short-lived, meaning it gets a perhaps over-generous 5/10 from me. Unfortunately it’s a storyline that has been rehashed too many times and it’s unsurprising that Paramount delayed the release for so long. Worth a Blockbuster rental but I won’t be adding it to my DVD collection anytime soon.

My recommendation, if you want a real spine-tingling ‘creepy kids’ TV spot, is Supernatural’s ‘The Kids Are Alright’ – Season 3, Episode 2. Scary shizzle.

M.I.A.

Apologies for being missing in action over the last week peeps (or the few of you that follow me!) - it's been a hectic one! Just to keep you filled in on the goings-on of you favourite reviewer (ha ha), I've been busy with the following:

A wedding:

...a weekend away to Suffolk, w/hot tub:

...injuries (urgh):

...and also not forgetting, a disposable barby! Ahoy!:

I hope these are sufficient excuses for you...if not: TOUGH. ;) Never fear though, I have reviews for the likes of Case 39, Legion, Hot Tub Time Machine and many more in the pipeline. Stay tuned. Or whatever the reading equivalent is....

Peace.

Alex X