Troll Hunter

For purposes of identification and public safety, a troll may (or may not) look like this

Dir. André Øvredal, Norway

Just when I thought I could not stomach another found footage horror film, Troll Hunter comes along and makes me eat my words. Produced in 2010, it has emerged from a mass of vampire and zombie ‘product’ to shine brightly as a beacon of originality.

In a tradition popularised by The Blair Witch Project (1999) but spearheaded by the infamous Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Troll Hunter purports to be the result of chronologically edited, raw footage left on the doorstep of a Norwegian film production company. The days of Blair Witch are well and truly over, so audiences are immediately in on the joke, although the film plays as a poker-faced portrayal of supposed documentary events with humour handled cleverly in an almost incidental manner.

As it goes, students from a local university – armed with video camera – set out to uncover the activities of a mysterious poacher who is believed to be muscling in on bear hunter territory. After hounding this lone ‘ranger’, trolljegeren Hans, they are graciously brought into the fold and granted permission to capture his strange vocation on film, despite the disapproval of the ‘authorities’.

Now, I know as much about Norway as Kurt Russell’s MacReady in The Thing, so there is a curiosity about all things Norwegian that certainly adds to the entertainment value – the snow-capped mountain landscape with fingers of low-hanging cloud, the lyrical yet vaguely obscene language and, of course, the Scandinavian-specific troll legend itself. But Troll Hunter is successful in so many other ways, from the modern wrangling of a fairy-tale myth to the presentation of the trolls themselves.

Similar to other well-conceived found footage horror films – such as the Spanish zombie flick [REC] (2007) – Troll Hunter uses the inadequacies of guerrilla filmmaking footage to its advantage, largely to obscure the crappiness of any computer-generated imagery and, consequently, create more believable monsters. Computer effects are cheap, which is why we’ve been forced to suffer at their uninspired mercy for 20-odd years now. What the makers of Troll Hunter do is employ a bit of creative thinking, such as green-filtered night vision and wavering camera, to smooth over any chinks in their CGI armour.

Most importantly, the trolls of Troll Hunter are not just roaring, charging, flesh-chomping monsters – they are artfully drawn characters, each with a personality of its own, including strange behavioural quirks and expressions. Through troll hunter Hans – a “Norwegian hero”, as described by one of the student documentarians – we’re given a fascinating reintroduction to troll folklore, including troll varieties such as ‘Ringlefinch’, ‘Tosserlad’, ‘Rimetosser’, ‘Mountain Kings’ and the largest troll of all, the ‘Jotnar’. But, as Hans makes a point of saying, “Fairytales often don’t match reality”.

While an adult horror film from start to finish, Troll Hunter successfully does what few modern horror films do – channel our inner child. The arrival of the first troll on screen literally had me clapping with excitement, which is a rare response these days with, more often than not, sadistic horror flooding the market. To exit a horror movie with a broad smile on your face is quite a rare thing indeed.

Troll Hunter will also have you humming along to Edvard Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ from Peer Gynt before you know it.

More trolls please.

Troll Hunter is available on DVD (Australia) from Madman

Troll Facts & Fiction

• Sunlight turns them to stone or makes them explode (dependent on age)
• They’re mammals
• They only breed one offspring in a lifetime
• The blood of Christians is particularly attractive to them
• They are born with one head, but may grow more over time to scare other trolls and attract females
• They love to gnaw old car tyres
• They are stupid
• Average life expectancy is 1000-1200 years

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Bruce Campbell (Uncut)

The Bruce is loose

Way back in 2002, cult actor and all-round righteous dude Bruce Campbell starred as Elvis Presley in a film, Bubba Ho-Tep (directed by Don Coscarelli). In it, Elvis and JFK are both still alive and wasting away in their own decrepitude in a nursing home until an ancient Egyptian mummy vies for the souls of their fellow aged residents. Sound strange? You betcha. Even better, JFK is an African-American, played with soul-stirring reverence by veteran actor, the late Ossie Davis.

Bubba Ho-Tep struggled in distribution limbo despite attracting a devout following, which is why this interview (below) with Bruce Campbell took place almost three years after production. Given such a lag, Bruce managed to remain upbeat and forthcoming about the project – and very generous with the one-liners (“It could be called Grumpy Old Ghostbusters“) – making him one of my favourite interviewees. Ever.

The beginning of this uncut transcription centres mainly on Bubba Ho-Tep, but bear with it, and you’ll find lots of morsels about Bruce himself and, in particular, his career circling the mid-noughties. Having just recently met Pollyanna McIntosh and filmmaker Lucky McKee during their Oz publicity junket for The Woman, I really enjoyed re-reading Bruce’s words about his experiences with Lucky McKee on the director’s sophomore feature, The Woods. Maybe you will too.

Bruce, you always do us proud.

Red State

Are you listening to him?

Dir. Kevin Smith, USA

I just finished writing a review for this film when my browser crashed and the entire review – with hyperlinks, facts, dates and trivia – disappeared never to be seen again.

To say I am angry is an understatement so, instead of rewriting the review and further fuelling my rage, I am now going to walk around the block, punch some trees and say to you all ‘Go see Red State – it is really, really good’.

Over and out.

Red State is in cinemas (Australia) from 13th October 2011

Drive

He just drives

Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn, USA

After providing foreign-language fodder for international film festivals over the past decade or so with his Pusher trilogy, Denmark’s-greatest-contribution-to-cinema-since-Lars-Von-Trier – Nicolas Winding Refn – is having no problems wrapping his film directing skills around the English tongue. Critics fawned over his UK release Bronson (2008) and now, with the minimal-action actioner Drive, he consolidates his rise as ‘a (big) talent to watch’.

Drive works so well because of its refusal to accommodate genre labelling, but in order to give it a tick-box – as us film pontificators have a tendency to do – it is like Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle has crossed coasts to drive in Michael Mann’s Los Angeles. This is contemporary L.A, but with a distinct ’80s aesthetic that comes through the title credit typography, the Tangerine Dream-influenced music by Cliff Martinez, the muscle car culture and our hero’s shiny scorpion jacket, which he persists on wearing regardless of blood-sprays.

Ryan Gosling (The Notebook, Blue Valentine) plays a baby-faced, cold-as-ice operator – epitomising the explosive, pent-up rage of a De Niro, folded into the quiet-type, mystery-guy charisma of an Eastwood. Gosling’s got this film in the palm of his hand and, like Natalie Portman in Black Swan, he’s found his ultimate ‘ta-da’ moment.

A loner, a Hollywood stunt driver and an occasional getaway guy, Gosling – as the exceptionally talented, young ‘Driver’ – develops a love jones for his next door neighbour, Irene (Carey Mulligan), who is mother to little Benicio (Kaden Leos) and wife to a sympathetic jailbird, Standard (Oscar Isaac), poised to make his return from prison. This imminent family reunion puts a stop to any blossoming romance, but when Standard’s debts from ‘The Big House’ look as though they may threaten his wife and child, our Driver agrees to help him settle the score.

For lovers of cinema, Drive is like finding the mother lode – an elegant action film that pits moments of stillness against moments of extreme – yet tightly and clearly choreographed – frenzy and violence. In terms of its drama, Drive can be (almost) frustratingly slow; the characters sinking into each others’ eyes and thoughts for unpalatably long durations of time with shards of light skewering them like fingers from heaven. Say something, people – why don’t you! (That’s my internal dialogue, by the way). But as a stylistic device, this works to the film’s advantage and gives extra weight to any counter scenes.

Shots, too, are held until their dying moments, such as when Gosling slips behind a door jamb with gun in hand; the shot holding steady on his cat-stalking stealthiness until the last of him – the tip of his nose – has disappeared. And, sometimes, the two jarring elements of stillness and violence collide as one, like Gosling’s visit to a strip club to ‘acquire’ information, which sees the topless ladies poised like mannequins in a Kubrickian tableau while some guy has the crap beaten out of him.

Nicolas Winding Refn has taken a brave stance, potentially alienating all audiences for his film – too ponderous for action fans, too violent for Gosling’s love story followers – but that gives Drive a voice all of its own and one that speaks loudly to us people who enjoy all sorts of cinema, especially when they’re thoughtfully combined as a unique, tasty recipe. Throw in one of the best opening sequences ever committed to screen and excellent performances from all its cast – including Bryan Cranston as the loveable loser, Albert Brooks as the loveable bad guy and Ron Perlman as the bad guy bad guy – and you’ve got one of the best movies of the year.

Just to put you off the scent, I’d like to draw your attention to the following quote from Refn as found in the film’s press notes: “Since I was a teenager, I was a big fan of Sixteen Candles. I’ve always wanted to remake that film one way or another and, in a very unlikely way, I’ve done that in Drive. Carey [Mulligan] has all the intelligence and charm of a young Molly Ringwald. The romantic scenes she has with Ryan [Gosling] make for a very delicate and beautiful contrast to the brutality of the rest of the film.”

Aha! So that’s where the font in the opening credits comes from…

Drive is in cinemas (Australia) from 27th October 2011

Note: This trailer does not accurately represent the film. It is included here as an example of poor advertising – nothing more.

Newsflash: Westwood and Baker unite to kick goals as a team

Monday 12th Sept – Wordsmith Emma Westwood and Stephen Baker Media have confirmed rumours the two professional entities will now be partnering to create a greater writing, editing and broadcasting enterprise.

This new venture enables Emma Westwood to broaden her wordsmithing reach to sports organisations, which is where Steve Baker Media’s talents lie as an accomplished broadcaster and blogger.

It has been reported Westwood personally approached Baker with the proposition during ‘Steak Night’ at the Union Hotel a few weeks ago.

“Yes, it’s true,” said Westwood in an email confirming the decision. “After years of going it alone and having stretched my resources in terms of ‘woman power’, it seemed a no-brainer to ask Steve if we could pool our talents to create something bigger. After all, there’s only so much I could do by myself.”

Having worked as a freelancer for approximately 15 years, Westwood has consolidated a core clientele that crosses from media and journalism to corporate publications. She has a reputation for providing attention to detail, strong lines of communication, always meeting deadlines and producing “surprising results from seemingly vague or mundane briefs”.

Westwood’s extensive writing and editing skills are expected to be of great benefit to Stephen Baker Media in making the move from sports commentary into creating internal publications and communications for sports organisations.

As well as taking on the responsibilities of this new partnership, Stephen Baker Media claims Baker will remain committed to his obligations as a sports and racing broadcaster on Sky Sports Radio.

“I can’t wait to draw from the immense sports knowledge of Stephen Baker Media,” says Westwood. “This is a very exciting for me, in terms of moving into new arenas, but also in offering an even better service to my existing clients.”

When asked for a statement, Baker said: “Giddy up.”

For further information, visit www.emmawestwood.net or stephenbakermedia.wordpress.com

John Carpenter Talks Monsters

The great man speaks

For the billions of people out there who have not purchased a copy of my book, Monster Movies, here’s something for free – the chapter contributed by horror filmmaker John Carpenter.

To put it in context, the book is divided into monster ‘types’ (eg. Infectious Monsters, Monsters from Outer Space, Monsters from the Deep and so on) in which I flesh out a few of my favourite monster films in detail. Then between each chapter are these musings by various filmmakers who’ve dabbled in the monster sub-genre – the likes of Roger Corman, Larry Cohen and, as presented in full below, John Carpenter, who is a great interviewee for his enthusiasm, frankness and knowledge in equal measures.

There was a portion of this John Carpenter interview censored by my publishers for fear of litigation by a certain ‘horror writer’. I very nearly included the whole interview with Carpenter’s contentious words here in this blog, but then thought the better of it in case I got myself in some hot water. John Carpenter, by the way, said ‘cool’ when I told him it was going to be removed – he’s a low maintenance kind of guy.

Before I hand this blog post over to the great man himself, I noticed on Amazon.com that John Landis is releasing a book called Monsters in the Movies that comes out on 19th September 2011. Seeing this gave me a giggle as I’d originally pitched my book under the same title, but was told the resellers thought ‘Monster Movies’ was more marketable. They may be right, but I’m guessing John Landis will still sell a few more copies than me. I envy his book in all its full colour glory.

John Carpenter

In his own words, August 2007

“There are times when we seem to be sticking our heads right down into the bloody, stinking maw of the unknown, as the Thing transforms itself into creatures with the body parts of dogs, men, lobsters, and spiders, all wrapped up in gooey intestines” – review of The Thing by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
(1 January 1982)

Growing up in the ‘50s, that’s the time I remember and love the most as a moviegoer. I think you always love the movies you see when you’re young. Always. They make this gigantic impression on you.

In the United States, they just released a DVD of old monster films during the 1950s. Watching this DVD is like taking my favourite drugs. I love it. There are four movies in there and they’re just awful… The Gigantic Claw (1957), The Werewolf (1956), Zombies Of Mora Tau (1957), and The Creature With The Atom Brain (1955). They’re terrible but fabulous. God, yeah.

The ‘50s was a great time for monster movies and science fiction movies. That was the time of the giant bug movies ­– Them!, Tarantula, Beginning Of The End. My love of monster movies goes very, very deep. During the ‘50s, they were re-releasing the classics – Universal classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man – on television. It was just wonderful. When the occasional film came along that purported to be a monster movie, but was really not, it pissed me off.

Monsters are glorious because, first up, you want to know what they look like. That was the big thing when I was a kid. If they made a great-looking monster, it was so fabulous. “Show me my monster, guys. I want to see it. I don’t want it to be in the dark. I want it to come out in the light. I want to see this fucker. I want to deal with it on the screen. I don’t want it to be a dog in makeup like The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Give me my monster and give it to me now!” That was my attitude. Just as long as you give me a glimpse of the monster, then I’m a happy camper.

The Woman

Pollyanna McIntosh & the eyes of horror correspondent Michael Helms

My introduction to the films of Lucky McKee came by way of the chilling May, which I stumbled across in a midnight session at the Melbourne International Film Festival quite a few years back.

May is one of those films I crave – a simple, psychological horror that can say so much without bludgeoning you over the head with it, except for when blood-letting is required. So that clandestine viewing on a cold, dark Melbourne night kick-started a love affair of sorts with the McKee-style, of which I felt hadn’t been authentically propagated since May until now with the release of his most controversial film yet, The Woman.

Starring McKee muse Angela Bettis (she of the outstanding titular role in May) and the mighty Sean Bridgers (Al Swearengen’s goofball lackey in Deadwood) as the parents of an American-as-apple-pie-family, The Woman charts the unfortunate happenings when supposed civilised humans decide to tame a feral female they find in the woods near their rural home.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of watching The Woman three times – once via an inferior DVD duplicate, another on the silver screen with an audience (all waiting for something far more shocking than what was actually delivered, I must say) and another following a casual chat over martinis with the divine Ms Pollyanna – ‘The Woman’ herself.

As opposed to her on-screen huntress persona, Pollyanna proved a smiling and highly enthusiastic conversationalist – and a wee bit lily-livered when it came to horror. She said she traditionally steered clear of the genre until such parts came her way (first Headspace, 2004) and, since then, she has been pleasantly surprised by the kind of love only horror fans seem able to afford. After shooting the breeze with Pollyanna, it was only fitting to watch the film again and attend the Q&A session to reconcile this amiable ‘blonde’ with the hissing, scowling wild thing of the film. With The Woman, Pollyanna exacts quite the transformation, including a vocal tone that she believes came to her “quite naturally”.

Pollyanna 'wouldn't hurt a fly' McIntosh & Emma 'on her best behaviour' Westwood

Pollyanna was already familiar with the character in The Woman after playing her in the Andrew van den Houten-directed Offspring (2009) based on a novel by Jack Ketchum. Ketchum called upon McKee to create another film with the woman character, Van den Houten stepped into producer shoes and, consequently, this very different ‘cannibal’ film was borne, and one that walks to the beat of its own drum as a standalone feature. All reports suggest Offspring is the lesser film, and one that may douse any sympathy a viewer has for the woman character, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but something that could impact on her mystery for some.

Lucky McKee confesses to writing The Woman to be a repeat-watcher, so you could say, my obsessive viewing over the last couple of weeks could (possibly) be justified. Whatever may have been said of the film’s ending in post-screening eavesdropping, no one boasted at prematurely picking the surprise conclusion, despite a number of hints being dropped throughout the film. Viewing number two enabled me to catch those clues that had previously slipped my grasp, and then viewing number three offered even more clues. That’s how I prefer my filmed entertainment – it may appear straightforward at first, but only truly discloses its hand over time. A great example of this is George A. Romero’s forgotten masterwork, Martin (1977). First viewing, I concluded he was a vampire. Second viewing, I changed my mind. Third viewing, I’m back to thinking he’s a vampire. And so it continues.

The Woman presents thematic material that is universally uncomfortable – misogyny, physical and mental abuse, and domestic violence. Light humour acts as a counterpoint offering a little levity to the overall viewing experience; most notably through the family’s youngest daughter (Darlin) and even the excessive use of gore, which never fails to raise a titter from audiences. Why gore makes people laugh is the subject of a far lengthier appraisal.

Sean Spillane’s music is treated with great reverence and informs the film from start to finish, often with songs played in their entirety. Pollyanna received the music from Lucky before shooting commenced, which suggests how important these tracks/ditties were in moulding the atmosphere, peppering it with pathos and contemporising the setting. It is an audacious filmmaker who chooses to incorporate poetic songs into a horror film rather than Psycho-like strings, Tubular-esque bells or the kind of audio ‘stabs’ and ‘stings’ that elicit scares due to the sheer shock of their volume more than anything else.

The Woman is a queen among pop horror movies, joining a family of modern marvels that includes Teeth, Ginger Snaps and even Todd Solondz’s Happiness. More please.

The Woman is in cinemas (Australia) from 18th August 2011 

A Truly Horrible Panel: The Photo Evidence

To say something was ‘truly horrible’ when referring to a panel discussion on ‘Afraid Of Everything: Has Horror Gone Too Far?’ is a good thing – and in the case of such an event taking place at the Melbourne International Film Festival recently, it was horrible beyond words.

Given the opportunity to faff about film, the dedicated panel of five – incorporating yours truly, Rachael Cotra from Hello Darkness Film Festival, Neil Foley from Monster Pictures, Lee Gambin from Fangoria, filmmaker and feature panelist Ti West (The House of The Devil, The Innkeepers), and moderator-with-the-mostest Guy Davis – largely refrained from talking over each other to come up with the answer: ‘No, horror has not gone too far.’

For those of you who couldn’t make it, this is what we looked like:

Guy gesticulates (far left). We are awestruck by his dominating presence – (l to r) Neil Foley, Lee Gambin, Emma Westwood, Rachael Cotra, Ti West

Neil 'so waddya want' Foley, Lee Gambin & Emma Westwood

Ti West tells it as it is

Emma 'now listen' Westwood

The family shot – (l to r) Rachael, Ti, Emma, Neil, Lee, Linda and Guy

Afraid Of Everything: Has Horror Gone Too Far?

'A Serbian Film'... ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!

A slavish barometer of social paranoia, the horror movie genre has a tendency to tap into certain trends dependent on what tweaks the public fancy – or, more appropriately, rattles the public consciousness.

When the Cold War was at its height, ‘nuclear threat’ horror, in the form of chemically mutated monsters, dominated B-movie output and sent teens jumping into the laps of their sweethearts in drive-ins the world over. In this climate of international terrorism, the menace from within – zombies – continues to lumber and dominate. Who is the enemy? It could be any one of us.

Horror has a duty to remain… horrible; to undergo transformation with every seismic shift in world consciousness and push boundaries, so in effect, horror never really goes too far. Venturing where no one else is game to venture is the responsibility the horror genre shoulders. It’s not necessarily the gross-out factor that is important here; it’s whether a particular film is encouraging you to think and move beyond your comfort zone.

At this point, I should come clean with some wares I have to peddle: I’ll be taking part in a panel on Monday 25th July as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Talking Pictures Express series, where Rachael Cotra from Hello Darkness Film Festival, Neil Foley from Monster Pictures, Lee Gambin from Fangoria, Guy Davis and myself will be discussing this very subject, ‘Afraid of Everything: Has Horror Gone Too Far?’ Filmmaker Ti West (The House of The Devil, The Innkeepers) will also be offering his insider perspective on horror, although interestingly, his own films sit somewhere outside the current zeitgeist.

One film that is sure to come up in our discussion is the malign A Serbian Film, which still struggles in half-release limbo across the world, having been severely censored, as well as being the centre of legal controversy with the head of the Sitges Film Festival facing criminal charges in child pornography for screening the film. (Let me just say, despite the repugnant nature of the content, this accusation of child pornography is totally ludicrous).

I watched a screener of A Serbian Film almost one year ago and have hesitated in writing a blog post about it, for no apparent reason, except this movie kinda makes you want to run far, far away from it – it is the film that cannot be unwatched. A Serbian Film portrays a former pornstar-turned-family-man who is lured back into the trade with a pay cheque too good to be confused. The hitch? He can’t see the script; he just has to turn up to the set everyday and do as he is told.

Filmmaker Srdjan Spasojevic defends his work as being a commentary on the horrific war crimes of his country’s recent history, but A Serbian Film really does straddle the boundaries of acceptability. Has horror gone too far? I suggest you come along to the panel, hear what everyone has to say and maybe even pipe up with your own thoughts on the subject. Opinionated ‘so-and-so’s are welcome.