Movie :: Reeker

Hello friends,



Sometimes independent horror movies are scarier and better made than
the mainstream horror movies. Reeker is one such case, and having seen
The Omen 666 recently, the makers of Omen should have sought a lesson
from the makers of Reeker.

Reeker is one of those low budget, independent horror film that many
will not have heard about. I didn't know anything about it till it was
screened here. The movie may start off like any other horror movie,
but this one is actually quite well made.

Three guys (Jack, Trip and Nelson) and two girls (Gretchen and Cookie)
are on their way through a lone desert highway. Jack is blind, which
Trip finds out later. Trip himself has stolen a massive dose of
Ecstasy pill, and is somewhat on the run from the guy he stole from.
The second Gretchen finds out Trip has illegal amount of Ecstasy
pills, she stops the car and asks him to get out. Cookie takes the
opportunity to go to the toilet. Suddenly, the ground shakes with such
a force, as if a nuclear explosion has taken place. Jack, the blind
guy, can immediately sense that an earthquake on a scale of 5.12 has
taken place. They all pile up and get to the nearest motel, which
seems abandoned, where their car stops working. Trip begins to realize
something funny is going on. Soon, the guy from whom Trip had stole
the drug is on their case. During the night, a stranger passes by
looking for his wife. But something else is going on. They begin to
smell something funny. Cookie goes out, and she smells something and
she knows she is dead. Trip and Nelson also smell the weird smell and
they face directly with the Reeker!

Gretchen finds clues in the abandoned motel. She and Jack have to face
the Reeker too, but they can get away safely if they "fight" the
Reeker. How Gretchen and her blind friend Jack make an attempt to
escape forms the rest of the story.

However, the cool thing is that there is a massive twist at the end, a
la The Sixth Sense. You don't see it coming, and once the twist is
revealed do you realize why things happened the way they did. It's
actually a pretty clever horror movie. True to its genre, there
definitely some scenes that stood out and made you scared. The brief
opening scene is scary enough, with the sliced-in-half dog walking on
its two front legs!

Enough said!

Mansur

Movie :: Poseidon

Hey friends,

A better movie I enjoyed was Poseidon, based on another classic The Poseidon Adventure. I wish the makers of The Omen 666 could learn something from the makers of Poseidon in how to remake classic movies.



Wolfgang Peterson, director of Poseidon, has also directed The Perfect Storm, another movie about boat in peril situation. Poseidon is a movie all about the special effects, and surprisingly enough, characters too. This movie is meaner and wilder than Titanic.

An ex-naval officer, a gay retired architect, an ex-fireman, his daughter and secret lover, a mother and her kid are the people who we follow as the massive cruise liner is capsized and turned upside down by a massive rogue wave. Once the boat is upside down, our heros have to make their way to the bottom of the ship, which now at the top. They have to cross an elevator shaft with disastrous consequences. They have to get across the atrium with more disastrous consequences. They have to go through ventilation shaft, only to find the other end is blocked and water rising fast rendering them blocked. They have to get through lot more and every situation is filled with tension and suspense. Several key characters die, which only makes you wonder who will survive because once you see someone you don't expect to die, you are left with confusion as to who will survive. Only when the movie end do you realize you have been holding your breath the whole time.

Poseidon is an experience, and as a disaster movie, it does require a high level of disbelief (how can a kid hold his breath for more such a long time?) We are introduced to our characters briefly enough for you to not love nor hate them. Over their journey to the top of the boat, you slowly begin to develop affection for these people and soon you don't want anyone to die, not even the kid!

However, this movie is not about logic or character study, but the real star of this movie is the special effects. The rogue wave, the cruise ship capsizing, the water breaking in flooding the ballroom, the tower of fire, the propellers etc. The effects made this movie believable and a lot of fun.

Watch it for the effects and no-brainer action movie and leave the movie completely satisfied.

Mansur
PS I always used to imagine walking on ceilings in my house as a kid. This movie is captures that essence to walk on celings!

Movie :: The Omen 666

Hello friends,

I got to see The Omen 666 today. When I first heard about this movie, I was horrifed. Why should they mess up the original Omen (1970s)? The original one is a classic. Why the need to update it. Well, after watching the movie, it became clear that the makers of this movie only reason to remake a classic was because of the date 6th June 2006. In one word: crappy remake!

Clearly the newer version has been updated for the 21st Century. With the sightings of the three comets, teh Vatican is alerted to the fact that the Anti-Christ has been born. 9/11, Tsunami, Abu Ghraib Scandal, wars, famine etc are all shown as a beginning to the end of world events. In Rome, a baby is born to an American diplomat, Robert. We soon learn the baby dies. Instead, the priest offers another baby and the diplomat's wife, Kate, is not told about the adopted baby. Soon, things take a good turn for the family. They are transferred to London, and after a freak accident of another senior diplomat, Robert's position at the Embassy is elevated.

Things look good in London when a priest approaches Robert to tell him of the shocking truth about the adopted baby, whose mother he claims is a jackal. Robert refuses to believe the priest. Then, at Damien's 5th birthday party, the nanny commits suicide. A new nanny approaches the family seemingly from out of nowhere, who we learn is there to protect Damien. Kate and Damien's relationship becomes awkward and they grow apart. A photographer at the birthday had taken pictures of the nanny and of the priest at the embassy discovers something startling. Their deaths had been foreshadowed in the pictures. The priest is also eventually killed a la Final Destination style. Robert begins to seriously consider the idea that his adopted son may actually be the Anti-Christ. The rest of the movies follows his and the photographer's journey to Rome and Israel, where they find out how to kill the boy and prevent the world from the destruction by the anti-Christ.

I can clearly do a side by side comparison study of the old and new version but that's pointless because clearly the older one is still a classic, more creepy and more realistic. The newer one is made for the 90s. Fans of the older one will not like the new one, and people who haven't seen the old one may enjoy the new one.

However, having said all that, I did notice several changes that were welcome in the new one. One was the two dream sequence Kate has of her son. They were creepy in their own right, but took away from the realism of the movie. Secondly, the color red was used prominently to foreshadow something evil. Case in points:
1. a red balloon is seen floating in the sky, soon after the nanny commits suicide
2. kate is wearing a bright red robe in a white bathroom, soon after she sees a freak in her bathroom mirror
3. the priest sees a guy/ girl in a red overcoat run, as well as a red post box in london, as well as a by-stander with a red umbrella, soon after he is killed.
4. the photographer and robert pass by a musem with red banners, soon after the photographer is killed

There are several other "red" clues. To the more serious movie buffs, they will notice this idea of red has picked up straight from The Sixt Sense, where the color red was prominently to signify evil and good.

The Omen 666, although ok for the 90s, is certainly not a classic. The actors on their own are ok, but compared to Gregory Peck and Lee Rimmick in the older version, these new actors are quite pale.

At the end of it all, it does become obvious the movie was made clearly for the 6/6/06 date and not for any other reason. You cannot help but leave the cinema feeling they could have done a lot more!

I give it 2 out 5, for being an inferior version of a classic movie.

Mansur