The Dead Outside (2008)

Ever since the release in 1968 of George A. Romero's classic horror film "Night of the Living Dead", zombie films quickly became a quite popular subgenre of horror; and that was because the type of scenario that Romero's film introduced to the world allowed countless narrative possibilities (worth to point out that its direct ancestor was Richard Matheson's novel "I Am Legend"). From the gory violence of Lucio Fulci's "Zombi 2" (1979) to the comedy of Wright's "Shaun of the Dead" (2004), to even more existentialist meditations like "I, Zombie: The Chronicles of Pain" (1998). The renewed popularity that the zombie film experienced at the dawn of the 21st century has brought new ideas on the subject, and amongst them there's the one presented by the British film "The Dead Outside", an independent production released in the year 2008. Directed by Scottish director Kerry Anne Mullaney, "The Dead Outside" fits in the kind of zombie film that focuses more on the social repercussions of the outbreak of a virus. Unfortunately, the result is not that stellar.

"The Dead Outside" is the story of David (Alton Milne), a young survivor of a devastating neurological epidemic that has ravished the world. The disease, of an unknown origin, is highly contagious and the result in those infected is a loss of reason, of sense and an increase of violent impulses, reducing them essentially to partially sentient creatures unable to feel pain. David wanders in his car through the fields of Scotland looking for other survivors, as the group where he was living was attacked with him as sole survivor. In his quest, David finds a farm that seems inhabited, so he decides to spend the night there. While he rest, he is surprised by the house's owner, April (Sandra Louise Douglas) and her old rifle. After making sure that David is not infected, April allows him to star for a while. Soon, the differences between them will make their personalities clash, because while David still sees the infected as humans, April exterminates them without any remorse, full of a fury that intimidates David. But under that anger, April hides a very important secret.

Written by Kris R. Bird and director Kerry Anne Mullaney herself, "The Dead Outside" tackles the zombie film genre from an interesting point of view: that of those who survived the apocalypse. So, rather than being a traditional horror film, "The Dead Outside" is a character study about these two characters that circumstances have gathered in a lonely farm in Scotland. As David and April face the infected that occasionally get near the farm, the writers contrast the different ideas both characters have about their future, with David hoping to recover a certain degree of normality while April only wants to be left along. In general, the premise of "The Dead Outside" is interesting as it aims for psychological horror instead of a more visceral type of it, as it focuses on the frail balance that exists in the relationship between David and Apri. Unfortunately, Bird and Mullaney's screenplay fails to truly explore those themes, as it doesn't develop its characters beyond the stereotype, which eventually becomes a bigger problem when the plot doesn't have much going on in it.

While her screenplay is pretty much lacking, as a director, Kerry Anne Mullaney has better luck, as "The Dead Outside" shows she has a well defined vision for her quite particular brand of zombie apocalypse. Working with minimal resources, Mullaney creates a minimalist film placing greater emphasis on atmosphere and tension between her characters. The key element in "The Dead Outside" is the feeling of loneliness that invades the characters and their reactions to it. Mullaney reflects this loneliness by taking great advantage of the work of cinematographer Kris R. Bird, who makes an effective job at capturing the strange beauty of the desolated Scottish fields. In "The Dead Outside", Mullaney employs a slow, contemplative narrative, which goes hand in hand with the screenplays' focus on the characters and their loneliness. The atmosphere of desolation generated by Mullaney is effective in the realist way it presents her apocalypse, an apocalypse of loneliness where survivors only have their memories with them. Sadly, Mullaney doesn't manage to do something with this, thanks to a story that goes nowhere.

As mentioned before, "The Dead Outside" is more a character study than a typical horror film, exploring the consequences of the epidemic in two of its survivors. By focusing on its characters, the performances become instrumental to the success of "The Dead Outside", but unfortunately, the acting in the film is pretty much average. Alton Milne is maybe the only exception, making a pretty acceptable job as the traumatized survivor Daniel, who tries to start his life again. In a retrained yet still emotive performance, Milne manages to transmit his characters' loneliness and melancholia, after having lost everything except hope. On the contrary, SandraLouise Douglas makes an unfortunately bad job as the mysterious April, making an exaggerated performance of the anguish and anger of the characters, resulting in her making April look like nothing more than a capricious and bitter teenager. Of course, not everything can be blamed on Douglas, as her character doesn't give her much space to do something better. Sharon Osdin appears as a third survivor, making an OK performance, though nothing surprising.

"The Dead Outside" is an independent horror film with as many virtues as it has flaws, which results in a movie that's never entirely satisfying at all. Technically, it's remarkable how director Kerry Anne Mullaney manages to do it with such limited resources, but ultimately, her film suffers from the greatest sin a movie can commit: being boring. As mentioned above, the problem is not in its premise, which is certainly interesting, it's problem is that "The Dead Outside" never truly moves on to something, as while it establishes several subplots that point towards something interesting, nothing relevant really happens. The clash between two characters, based mainly on the contrast between David's desire for returning to society and April's hate towards it, only results in discussions where April ends up just screaming in anger demanding to be left alone. Thus, a character that's the center of the main plot and whom should be interesting, is left reduced to an annoying stereotype that makes her lose her supposed importance in the plot.

In this her debut, director Kerry Anne Mullaney certainly shows a defined vision and narrative style, as well as a great skill to do a lot with very little. It's a shame that there hasn't been more care while developing the screenplay, because "The Dead Outside" ends up looking like an incomplete work. In fact, it's quite probable that if the movie had been developed as a short film, "The Dead Outside" could had worked a lot better, as what results is a film of a terribly slow rhythm where ultimately nothing happens. Despite its interesting premise, "The Dead Outisde" ends up as a film that sadly is neither good nor bad, just simply forgettable. Nevertheless, films like "The Dead Outside" prove the great versatility that the zombie film subgenre has for storytelling.

5/10
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The Others (2001)

In 1996 a young 24 years old man named Alejandro Amenábar broke into the Spaniard film industry with his feature length debut "Tesis". The film, which was a horror story about snuff videos, would end up winning seven Goya awards and quickly became a classic of the Spanish horror that was on the rise at the moment. "Tesis" was followed by "Abre los ojos" in 1997, a science fiction film that would impress American actor Tom Cruise so much that he would buy the rights to produce a remake with the name "Vanilla Sky" in 2001. As part of the deal, Cruise would produce a movie for Amenábar, allowing him to enter the American industry. Amenábar began to develop a project, and found his inspiration in an old chapter of the British TV series "Armchair Theatre" that was essentially a ghost story and was titled "The Others". Taking the same title for his story, Amenábar began the production of a film of Gothic horror in the most classic style, pretty much akin to Jack Clayton's 1961 classic, "The Innocents". The result would be outstanding.

"The Others" is the story of Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) and her children Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), who live in a huge mansion in the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, during World War II. Anna and Nicholas suffer from a rare disease, xeroderma pigmentosa, which gives them extreme photosensitivity and forces them to live in the dark, so no light can enter the Stewart house. Strange events begin to take place in the house's rooms, when Anne begins to talk about seeing other persons in the house, including a kid named Victor. As this takes place, three servants arrive to the house looking for a job, they are Mrs. Bertha Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), the gardener Mr. Edmund Tuttle (Eric Sykes) and the young mute girl Lydia (Elaine Cassidy). Grace decides to hire them and explains them the very strict rules of her house, designed to protect her children from the light. Anne keeps talking about Victor, and soon Grace herself begins to experiment the unexplainable evens that Anne has been mentioning. Convinced that they aren't alone in the house anymore, Grace will try to protect her kids from the others.

With a screenplay written by Amenábar himself, "The Others" is, in a certain way, a ghost story done in a pretty traditional style. Firmly rooted within the Gothic horror subgenre, "The Others" has all the key elements of this type of stories, beginning with the huge mansion in the dark, isolated from society. However, something that separates "The Others" from most ghost stories (resulting from the huge influence it receives from Henry James' classic novel "The Turn of the Screw") is the strong emphasis that Amenábar places on his characters. Certainly, very strange things begin to take place in the Stewart mansion, however, the greatest danger seems to be not inside the house, but inside Grace's mind. Lost in uncertainty regarding the fate of her husband (who was sent to the war), Grace's state of mind begins to suffer the ravaging of a growing obsession with the safety of her children, which gets worse as she face the fact that Anne claims to have seen several strangers in her own house.

The refined classicism of the story is reflected in the style that Amenábar employs to craft his film. Opting for a slow and clam rhythm, Amenábar gives "The Others" an elegance and subtlety in its craftsmanship with recalls Jack Clayton's "The Innocents" (not a coincidence, as Clayton's movie is an adaptation of James' "The Turn of the Screw"). In "The Others", as in the classics of Gothic horror, the atmosphere becomes the most important element, and Amenábar focuses on developing a constant sensation of paranoia and suspense within the dark Stewart mansion. forced The darkness of the house, coupled with the loneliness and the uncertainty generate a mood of constant tension that Amenábar transmits through Grace's eyes. It's interesting that Amenábar, in the psychological focus he gives to ghost stories, rather than showing directly what is happening in the house, he narrates it through the expressions of his characters, particularly Grace. So, her eyes become true windows that allows us to gaze into the deep darkness of her mind.

As can be seen, Grace slowly becomes the center of "The Others" and, being this a film where the characters' psychology is so important, the performances by the cast become of enormous importance. Fortunately, Australian actress Nicole Kidman shows to be up to the challenge and delivers one of the best works in her career. Certainly, there are moments where Kidman shows a bit of a tendency to overact a little, however, in general her performance as Grace is charged with a restrained intensity that effectively transmits the fragile state of mind that her character has. As the mysterious Mrs. Mills, Fionnula Flanagan delivers an excellent job that serves as the perfect counterpart to Kidman's, establishing herself with a strong screen presence. Eric Sykes is a bit less fortunate, though his work as Mr. Tuttle isn't any bad. The film's surprise comes from the young actors Alakina Mann and James Bentley, whom deliver performances of great quality as the Stewart children, who try to live a normal life despite their disease.

Without a doubt, a lot of the ominous atmosphere that Amenábar creates in "The Others" is thanks to the excellent work of cinematography done by the veteran Javier Aguirresarobe. Taking great advantage of the darkness that reigns in the Stewart house (as the characters are afraid of sunlight), Aguirresarobe plays with shadows and sources of light to give a supernatural beauty to Amenábar's film. And yet, the technical perfection of the movie never overshadows its story, which is a wise choice by director Alejandro Amenábar, whom despite playing with several of the genre's classic conventions, never loses the focus on his characters. Amenábar makes an intelligent and honest film that without big pretensions, dwells in its characters' psychology without cheap devices and keeping true to the genre. While the film could be accused of being a tad simplistic (especially when compared to Amenábar's previous film, "Abre los ojos"), what Amenábar achieves in "The Others" is to take a very traditional kind of horror story to a nearly sublime artistic level.

Certainly, "The Others" is often noted by the final plot twists of its story, in the sense that it seemed as if the movie was a mere excuse to employ that twist. However, "The Others" is a lot more than a surprising plot twist, as just like the best films with this kind of endings ("The Usual Suspects" or "The Sixth Sense" for example), the twists is not the reason for the film's existence, it's just the icing on the cake that crowns a pretty satisfying story. That is, even when knowing the nature of the twist, the film doesn't lose a bit of its strength. And this is because Amenábar doesn't have this final twist as his only card, he begins to build a fascinating and engaging plot that gives good use to the best elements of the Gothic horror subgenre and makes a work of art out of them. A true heir of Clayton's classic film.

10/10
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Dead End (2003)

At the end of the decade of the 90s, the great commercial success of several horror films brought a renewed interest in the genre, which became some kind of a renaissance during the following decade. The horror genre was again a profitable product, to the point that even big studios began to produce horror movies to satisfy the demand, resulting in the making of many big budget remakes of several classic films of the genre (the perfect example: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 2003). However, and just like it had happened in previous decades, despite the huge amount of produced films, the quality wasn't always the best, and many of those films, whether they were remakes or not, ended up being pretty much forgettable. Nevertheless, a good thing that came with this popularity of horror films was the return of indie horror, which just like in previous occasions, would be where finally the most interesting films would be produced. "Dead End", a somewhat independent French-American co-production released in 2003, would be a great example of this.

"Dead End" is the story of a family trip, where the Harringtons are driving through the highway heading towards grandmother's house in order to spend the holidays there. In the car are traveling Frank (Ray Wise) and Laura Harrington (Lin Shaye), their daughter Marion (Alexandra Holden) and their son Richard (Mick Cain), as well as Marion's boyfriend Brad (Billy Asher). The dream and the nerves make Frank to almost collide with another car, so to alleviate tension, he decides to take an alternate road. Laura is upset by this, so they begin to argue again until Frank sees a woman in white (Amber Smith) carrying a baby through the woods. Frank returns to investigate if the woman is alright, as she seems hurt. The Harringtons decide to take her to a nearby cabin located a few miles back, in order to get her some help. The cabin looks empty, so Frank and Laura decide to investigate. Richard and Marion leave the car, leaving Brad alone with the strange woman, who shows him that the baby is dead. Whn they return, the family discovers that Brad is gone, and this is just the beginning of their trip through a dark road.

Written and directed by French filmmakers Jean-Baptise Andrea and Fabrice Canepa, "Dead End" presents an intelligent plot where the family problems the Harrington have come to the light as they keep on driving in this insane trip through the night. And this is precisely the greatest achievement of the films, as even when the story may not be the most original in horror, the way that Andrea and Canepa develop their characters is what ends up making the story interesting. Their hates, grudges and secrets are uncovered as the family tries to keep their sanity as they face he strange situations that take place on the road, and the deaths that begin to happen during their long voyage to madness. Mixing with great creativity the suspense with comedy, Andrea and Canepa create a story that moves with grace between the blackest humour and the classiest horror, without ever losing the right tone. The ending is perhaps a bit too predictable, but the truth is that what makes "Dead End" really special is the journey, not the destination.

In "Dead End", directors Andrea and Canepa leave aside the graphic violence of modern horror and instead they choose a style more based on atmosphere and suspense than in straight visual shock. With great skill, the filmmakers manage to create an effective feeling of paranoia as the Harrington discover that something is not exactly right with the road. Certainly, the descend to madness that this family experiences is a real nightmare, and the filmmakers truly create a very appropriate surreal atmosphere thanks to a well devised mise en scène that, as mentioned before, it's based more on suggestion than in showing. This last thing may had been the result of budgetary limitations, however, it's a wise choice as it allows the filmmakers to explore a kind of horror that's more psychological than visceral. While this may not really be the best work of cinematographer Alexander Buono, there's something in the style he employs in the film that reminds a lot to the supernatural horror cinema of the 80s (think "Phantasm"), and that the filmmakers use to their favor.

However, a lot of the success of "Dead End" depends on their actors, as it's a film based chiefly in its characters and the relationships between them. And fortunately, "Dead End" has excellent performances from the veteran actors Ray Wise and Lin Shaye. As the father figure in the Harrington family, Ray Wise makes a superb job at making a tough and aggressive character that hides an enormous fear to the horrors he is facing. Wise creates in Frank a very complex character, more complex than it shows, and while at times there's a bit of overacting on his part, in general his work in "Dead End" ranks amongst the best in his career. Actress Lin Shaye also delivers a work of great quality as his wife Laura. Playing a housewife full of secrets, Shaye makes a brilliant job, particularly shown in her timing for comedy, as it's her character the one that gives the film the touch of black humor to the plot. Young actress Alexandra Holden is perhaps less surprising, though she still makes an effective performances as the story puts her on the spotlight.

Nevertheless, not everything is perfect in "Dead End" and unfortunately, the acting done by Amber Smith and specially Mick Cain downgrade the quality of the film due to their bad quality. Cain in particular is pretty poor in his performance as Richard, and it doesn't really help the fact that his character is the less developed of the group. Despite those two details, the acting in "Dead End" is in general pretty satisfying, and one of its strongest assets. If the film has any problem, that is the fact that the film can become a bit slow and repetitive as the movie consists mainly in the family driving through a dark road. It's true that Andrea and Canepa's screenplay keeps things rolling with a good rhythm and well scripted dialogs, but "Dead End" would had been improved if more situations took place in its plot diminish the moments where nothing happens. It's worth to point out that even when "Dead End" was done with a relatively low budget, directors Andrea and Canepa manage to avoid this to be too obvious and keep the attention on the story.

Intelligent, disturbing, and with a very twisted sense of humor, "Dead End" is a film that offers somewhat of a return of a more traditional kind of horror. Thanks to the remarkable performances of Wise and Shaye, as well as the great use of atmosphere that directors Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa achieve, "Dead End" is an experience of paranoia and suspense akin to some of the best moments of "The Twilight Zone". Despits is flaws, this film once again demonstrates that with a good screenplay, it's possible to make a film of high quality even when resources are limited. And as mentioned before, while it's probable that its ending is a bit predictable, what's truly enjoyable in "Dead End" is the Harrington's descent to the dark side of the road.

7/10
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Nueve reinas (2000)

The abrupt end of a life is always a tragedy, particularly in young people, as it leaves the question of what would they do if they were alive. In the case of an artist, this is specially meaningful, even more if the deceased artist was just beginning to get recognition. This is the unfortunate case of Argentine filmmaker Fabián Bielinsky, whom after having made two critically acclaimed movies, died on his sleep from a heart attack, at only 47 years of age. A testament of his talent is the fact that in only two films, Bielinsky managed to develop a distinctive style of his own, different to anything found in the cinema of Argentina at the time. The first and most popular of his two films, "Nueve reinas" ("Nine Queens"), was a crime thriller with a quite particular tone of comedy and irony that ended up winning multiple awards both in its native country and abroad. And not without a reason, as "Nueve reinas"' careful construction truly shows what a real loss was Bielinsky's death.

"Nueve reinas" opens in a small convenience store where Juan (Gastón Pauls), a young con artist, successfully scams the cashier, only to be trapped while trying to perform the same trick twice. Marcos (Ricardo Darín) pretends to be a police officer and takes Juan away. On an alley, Marcos explains to a surprised Juan that he is not an officer, but also another con man. Marcos offers Juan the chance to be his partner for a day, and while Juan is reluctant at first, he accepts as he needs to raise money to help his father in jail. After several successful cons, Marcos receives the call from a former associate, Sandler (Oscar Nuñez), whom asks Marcos help in a rare scheme: Sandler has made perfect counterfeit copies of a rare set of stamps called "The Nine Queens", and was trying to sell them to a rich Spaniard (Ignasi Abadal) who is being deported the following day (therefore unable to check the stamps' authenticity). Sandler was unable to do it alone because of his health, so the pair decides to enter the scheme.

Intelligent, witty, and with a good dose of humor, "Nueve reinas" is a solid thriller in which director Fabián Bielinsky (who also wrote the screenplay) plays with the caper film genre to deliver and entertaining tale of two con men. As the film unfolds, Bielinsky increases the stakes, putting his characters in even more complicated situations with every new plot twist. Nevertheless, while certainly the clever plot that Bielinsky crafts is quite thrilling, but in the most Hitchcocknian fashion, the Nine Queens scam is merely a MacGuffin, as the real magic in "Nueve reinas" comes from the way in which he he has developed the two main characters and their relationship. Particularly since both men are con artists, so trust won't become easily a bargaining chip in the deals between them. However, necessity and casualty has brought them together, the experienced master and the young talent, to take their chances and pull off this ultimate scam.

While certainly Bielinsky's ingenious screenplay is marvelous, his talent as a director is well worthy of recognition too, as he crafts his film with a simple but slick style that suits nicely the casual tone of the film. With a certain grace and elegance, Bielinsky lets the film's plot to unfold smoothly, embracing the audience in its captivating spell, not unlike the scams his characters perform, functioning like a precise clockwork with the perfect timing, the perfect tone. While working with a quite low budget, Bielinsky gives his film a well defined visual style, a bit traditional perhaps yet very attractive. Cinematographer Marcelo Camorino captures the urban setting with an elegant beauty, his camera getting deeply into the streets that make the characters' natural environment. Nevertheless, Bielinsky doesn't use any flamboyant visual style, knowing (like Mamet) that the strength of his movie is in the language the characters talk.

So, given that the screenplay what matters, the actors reciting the lines are of key importance for the success of the film. And fortunately, the acting is one of the strongest elements in "Nueve reinas". Leading the cast as the talented but unexperienced Juan, Gastón Pauls shows a natural charm in his performance, playing the role of the young apprentice with great verisimilitude. However, "Nueve reinas" belongs to the masterful performance of Ricardo Darín, who plays Marcos. As the smooth-talking con man Marcos, Darín commands the screen with power, showing he is a resourceful actor skilled at creating multidimensional characters. Because no matter how good a script is, a bad actor could had ended up making the role looking like the stereotype it may be. A talented one, like Darín, embodies the character and delivers a real person out of it. The rest of the cast, while having much less screen time than Pauls and Darín, they all deliver effective performances, particularly Leticia Bréndice, who plays Marcos' sister Valeria.

Bu the real star of "Nueve reinas" is without a doubt its director, Fabián Bielinsky, who showcases his talent for storytelling by weaving his tale with great skill. While the plot is relatively simple (the afore mentioned Mamet has produced stories of greater complexity), the way Bielinsky has transformed it into a puzzling tale is just captivating. "Nueve reinas" is a masterful example of how to flesh out a story. By adding the necessary amount of detail to make it interesting and unique, Bielinsky has built up his caper thriller with the same care he would stage a confidence trick: with the perfect timing and the appropriate tone, the adequate rhythm and the right cadence. There are few things that go wrong in "Nueve reinas", as every element plays its role in the puzzle to great effect. Perhaps there's a moment in which the absurdity of the cons is a bit too much, but the dry, deadpan humor that Bielinsky employs keep everything in the right mood.

Sly, ingenious, and owner of a delicious dark humor, "Nueve reinas" showed the talent of a filmmaker that, without any great pretensions, managed to create an entertaining thriller with intelligence and wit. Because it's this intelligence what separates "Nueve reinas" from similar yet banal thrillers, as it allows the film to unfold its story with a style that few have. After "Nueve reinas", Bielinsky was offered the chance of making an American remake, opportunity he refused in order to make "El Aura". The remake, titled "Criminal" was still produced with Gregory Jacobs at the helm. Sadly, Bielinsky died just when his career was on the rise. Watching the triumph that is "Nueve reinas" makes one realize just what a great loss for cinema was Bielinsky's untimely death.

9/10
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[Rec]² (2009)

Found footage as a narrative style became quite popular after the release of "The Blair Witch Project" in 1999. This narrative device, which consists in presenting the film as the discovered evidence of a story, soon found many filmmakers willing to experiment with it, sometimes with bad results, but also sometimes with remarkable ones. "[Rec]", a Spanish horror film directed y Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, and released in 2007, rightfully belongs to this last category. Essentially a zombie film, "[Rec]" narrated the story of a reporter and her cameraman as they end up trapped in a building where people had been infected with a disease that transformed them in voracious cannibal monsters. Narrated from the point of view of the camera, the film managed to translate successfully the tension and intensity of the horror film to a first person narrative. Not surprisingly given the film's success, talks for a sequel began quite soon, and Balagueró and Plaza returned to the apartment in 2009 for "[Rec]²".

Beginning right after the first "[Rec]" ended, "[Rec]²" opens up outside the building, where Dr. Owen (Jonathan D. Mellor), an official from the Ministry of Health, enters the quarantined apartment building along a four-man Special Operations team. They all have cameras mounted on their helmets, plus one of them, Rosso (Pablo Rosso), carries another camera to document the findings. At the building, Owen and his team face off the infected people, and Owen decides to employ prayer to stop them, revealing he is actually and agent from the Vatican sent to get a blood sample from patient zero, the Medeiros girl. At the same time, a man (Pep Molina) is trying desperately to enter the building. He is the father of Jennifer, the girl from the first "[Rec]"; and he manages to convince one of the firefighters (Juli Fàbregas) to help him enter. Three teenagers, Tito, Mire and Uri (Pau Poch, Andrea Ros and Àlex Batllori) follow them, not knowing that they are about to enter a nightmare.

In "[Rec]²", writers Balagueró and Plaza are now joined by Manu Diéz in an attempt to make a story that expands upon the mythology set by the first film while at the same time moves the plot to a different direction. For starters, "[Rec]²" firmly establishes demonic possession as the root of the infection, enhancing the religious undertones that the first movie only hinted at. This angle is particularly interesting, as the writers develop the theme into a captivating set of myths that give the "[Rec]" series a well defined identity of its own. Also, and as expected given the fact that the protagonists are now members of an elite tactical team, action takes a greater importance in the story. While the first "[Rec]" was based on the suspense of the reporters discovering the unknown, "[Rec]²" is now based on whether the soldiers will accomplish their mission. The way the writers have tied the film to the first one is also clever, though the addition of teenage characters for comic relief is one terrible mistake.

As written above, "[Rec]²" sees the series moving to a more action-oriented kind story, and in terms of style this is reflected in the frantic the narrative has. The new gimmick is the use of helmet-mounted cameras, giving the opportunity to see what each member of the special unit sees. In practical terms, this allows for a perspective similar to first person shooter video games, which works pretty good in the context of the new tone the film has, which has traded suspense for action (though the result is as tension-filled as the original "[Rec]"). In fact, the change from suspense to action is comparable to what James Cameron did in his sequel to "Alien". Once again cinematographer Pablo Rosso is placed inside the action, this time as a member of the special units (naturally, the one carrying the bigger camera), and while his work is perhaps difficult to appreciate (given the fast rhythm of his shaky cam), once again he has constructed a somber claustrophobic atmosphere in this apartment building.

Acting in the film is effective, though nothing really surprising. Perhaps it's because the characters aren't well developed, or the fact that now many of them have a camera, but there isn't really any performance that could leave a lasting impression. That is, only until Manuela Velasco returns as reporter Angela Vidal and steals the show. As Dr. Owen, Jonathan D. Mellor is good, though perhaps a bit overacted in his role of the Vatican agent willing to do anything to complete the mission. Óscar Zafra, as the leader of the Special Units team, has a commanding presence but the rest of the team members lack a personality of their own. Pep Molina fares better as Jennifer's father, desperate to save his family, not knowing about the horrors that have been unleashed inside the building. The three teenagers, Andrea Ros, Alex Batllori and Pau Poch are pretty poor in their performances, and represent perhaps the weakest element in "[Rec]²".

While in many ways Balagueró and Plaza have succeeded in this expansion to their original hit, "[Rec]²" has also some flaws that bring it down a bit in terms of quality. Certainly, the expansion to the "[Rec]" myths that the film does is a pretty clever twist to the zombie concept, as the religious themes of demonic possession make for pretty interesting interpretations to the movie. However, the inclusion of the three teenagers subplot is somewhat tacky, as it breaks from the mood established in the film, not to mention that the characters are poorly developed and badly acted, ending up as an annoying addition to the plot. Truly a tragically failed attempt at comic relief, as the film would be a lot better without them. As written above, the characters aren't that well developed, a trait it shares with the predecessor, though at least the first "[Rec]" had an iconic figure in Angela Vidal. Sadly, "[Rec]²" isn't that lucky in this aspect.

Despite its problems, "[Rec]²" is a worthy addition to the series, specially due to the fact that directors Balagueró and Plaza have managed to expand their concept without losing the edge and intensity the original had. The change from suspense to action is a nice move, and given the fact "[Rec]²" is about expanding the rules set by the first film, it was perhaps the logical development of the first person concept. Granted, the film is a tad inferior to the original, but it's still a powerful and captivating experience that continues the storyline and unveils more information about the virus. With a claustrophobic atmosphere and fast-paced action, "[Rec]²" is a worthy entry in Spanish horror.

7/10
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[Rec] (2007)

The second half of the 1990s brought a new generation of Spaniard filmmakers that seemed decided to redefine the face of Spanish horror. 1995's "El Día de la Bestia" (by Alex de la Iglesia) and 1996's "Tesis" (by Alejandro Amenábar) paved the way to new horror films that shared a quite distinctive style and a very Spaniard identity. The debuts of directors Jaume Balagueró ("Los Sin Nombre") and Paco Plaza ("El Segundo Nombre") could also be counted in this New Wave of Spaniard horror, and from the very start it's clear that both filmmakers have many things in common (for starters, both films were based on Ramsey Campbell's stories). The two of them would work together on "OT: La película", a documentary about the TV show "Operación Triunfo", and from then on a partnership was born. Given this background, it's not surprising that Balagueró and Plaza's subsequent collaboration would end up being a mix both horror and documentary: a found footage film titled simply "[Rec]".

"[Rec]" consists of the footage captured by reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso), as the two of them end up in the middle of a nightmare. It all begins with Ángela and Pablo visiting a local fire station in Barcelona, where they are making a story on the night shift firefighters. Suddenly, the unit receives an emergency call from an old apartment building and leaves, taking the two reporters with them. However, as they arrive they find the building surrounded by police officers, and inside, some of the residents have gathered at the lobby, while screams can be heard upstairs. Firefighters Manu (Ferran Terraza) and Alex (David Vert) join two policemen (Vicente Gil and Jorge-Yamam Serrano) and go upstairs, followed by Ángela and Pablo, and what they find is an aggressive old lady (Martha Carbonell). The old lady bites one of the policemen, and ends up shot by his partner. Downstairs, they discover that the building has been sealed, and that they have left trapped inside. And they are not alone.

Written by Balagueró, Plaza and Luiso Berdejo, "[Rec]" is by all accounts, a zombie film of the modern variety. That is, the risen dead are ferocious and fast. The clever twist is not on the story, but on the execution of it, as the movie is told from the point of view of the camera. Now, what sets "[Rec]" apart from most found footage films, is the fact that this narrative device is cleverly put to work in the film. Certainly, at its core the story may just follow the usual path of zombie films, but the new perspective given by the camera point of view is quite suspenseful and fresh. Also, they way the story justifies this has a bit more of verisimilitude than most films in the same vein, as by having two ambitious reporters as the main characters, it truly helps to explain the voyeuristic mentality that makes them keep filming. Perhaps "[Rec]" could be blamed of being thin in character development, but this is an exemplary case of a film based entirely on style over substance.

Because "[Rec]" is all about style, with directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza pushing the found footage genre to the limit by making a horror film that truly evokes the sensation of watching a real catastrophe. The intensity, the adrenaline, the despair, everything is there to give the feeling of being in the middle of a war zone, and it works. Instrumental for this is without a doubt the remarkable work of cinematographer Pablo Rossi, who plays the cameraman while actually shooting the film. Perhaps this detail, apparently insignificant, is what adds this verisimilitude that "[Rec]" has that other similar films lack: the cinematographer is not an outsider to the action, but himself is in there, controlling the camera and taking the audience to the dark apartment where ancient secrets are being held. While simple in terms of plot, "[Rec]" is an interesting exercise in style, an attempt of bringing the horror to a first person point of view and an experiment in making the horror film an experience.

Another key element for the success of "[Rec]" is the highly energetic performance of Manuela Velasco as reporter Ángela Vidal, who carries the film with strength and a natural charm that allow her to create a character that, while not being exactly likable (Angela is unscrupulous at best) manages to still be interesting to see. While her character may be simple, Velasco creates a very well defined identity for her role, and manages to transmit the sense of danger that her character lives through the chaotic night at the apartment. The rest of the cast is for the most part as good as Velasco, despite the fact that most play the classic archetypes of horror films. Ferran Terraza, as Manu, is quite effective as firefighter Manu, whom becomes the de facto leader once the building is put to quarantine. However, the best amongst the supporting cast is Maria Lanau, who plays the hysteric mother of Jennifer, a little child ill with what her mother claims is tonsillitis.

As written above, "[Rec]" is a film in which the execution is the key. While its plot doesn't sound like the most original horror film written (more than once it falls in genre clichés), it's magic and its power are in the way Balagueró and Plaza have narrated the story. While zombie films with first person narrative aren't new (2006's "The Zombie Diaries" being an earlier example), "[Rec]" is perhaps the first that manages to pull off the degree of verisimilitude and realism that found footage films attempt to convey. What "[Rec]" lacks in character development, it compensates with the adrenaline-rush that it has in its storytelling, which is intense, energetic and vibrant; truly transmitting the horror of being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Instead of channeling Romero's "Dead" films, what "[Rec]" evokes are disaster documentaries and news reports, and for a mockumentary that aims for realism, that is high praise.

In "[Rec]", directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza have achieved to deliver a found footage film that succeeds in telling its tale with disturbing realism and a haunting atmosphere. This two filmmakers have understood the possibilities of first person narrative, and have successfully translated the intensity of the modern zombie genre to this narrative device with great power. Thanks to the great acting from the cast and Pablo Rossi's incredible cinematography, the illusion of realism is achieved despite the film's fantastic premise, and ultimately "[Rec]" becomes a haunting roller-coaster of horror that never loses its high speed rhythm until the very end. In this sense, more than just a horror movie, "[Rec]" is an experience.

8/10
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Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)

From 1949 to 1990, Germany was divided in two different states, Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This as a result of divisions between the Allied powers (UK, USA, France and the Soviet Union) which had been occupying Germany since the end of World War II in 1945. Tensiosn between the West and the Soviet Union broke the allied cooperation and so the country was divided between in two states, one a capitalist country and the other a soviet republic. The city of Berlin itself became divided in 1961, when the Soviet government erected a wall, closing the border and splitting the city. The Berlin wall, symbol of the divisions of the Cold war, marked generations of Germans from both sides of the wall, and its destruction and reunification of Germany borough important social changes that left a powerful imprint in the nation's cinema. The effects of the change from the GDR to the unified Germany inspired filmmakers Wolfgang Becker and Bernd Lichtenberg to make "Good Bye, Lenin!", a film set precisely during those changing times.

The story begins in October 1989, in East Berlin, where young man Alex Kerner (Danie Brühl) lives with his sister Ariane (Maria Simon), his mother Christiane (Katrin Saß) and Ariane's baby daughter Paula. His father left the family in 1978, emigrating to the West side, while his mother remained an ardent supporter of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. One day, Alex is arrested in an anti-government demonstration, an event that makes her suffer a heart attack, falling into a coma. During her coma, the German Democratic Republic she loved and defended with her life is gone, as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the official reunification of East and West into one Germany. Soon the family enters the capitalist world with Alex earning a job installing satellite dishes and Ariane working at a Burger King. 8 months later Christian awakes to a different world, but her physical and mental state are still fragile, so Alex is advised that any shock may cause another heart attack. In order to protect his mother, Alex decides to keep the illusion that her mother's ideal nation is still alive.

Walking the thin line between drama and situation comedy, the screenplay of "Good Bye, Lenin!" (by Wolfgang Becker and Bernd Lichtenberg) tackles a political theme, but it's not really a political satire, at least not a common one. While politics set the background of the story, the core of the film is the family drama in which Alex gets into, as he goes to great extend to perpetuate the lie to his mother in order to protect her. Becker and Lichtenberg build up very interesting situations in which Alex must find a way to keep the lie going on. Not an easy job in a country that quickly begins to be filled with Coca-Cola ads and fast food restaurants, which increases Alex's difficulties with quite funny results. Nevertheless, the writers never really indulge in "Ostalgie" (the nostalgia for East Germany), and in fact, the position they take regarding politics seemed to be actually one of irony and cynicism (neither socialism nor capitalism are endorsed). But still, this cynicism doesn't take away the warmth and enormous heart the film has.

With a very fresh humor and solid visual narrative, director Wolfgang Becker makes of "Good Bye, Lenin!" a heartfelt tragicomedy that's not only charming, but also quite witty. Becker conceives wonderful set pieces to showcase Alex's desperate efforts to keep his mother's fantasy alive. However, as Becker's touch for comedy is remarkable, his talent truly shines in the way he tackles the dramatic side of the story, which he transforms into a quite poignant family melodrama. Certainly, the high quality of his screenplay helps a lot, though certainly, Becker manages to keep a lighthearted tone that remains true to the story without falling in the realms of parody. Because a plot like the one in "Good Bye, Lenin!" could had easily worked as a merciless satire of communism, however, director Wolfgang Becker makes it more a tribute, not to the German Democratic Republic, but to the people that truly believed in its ideals. The work of production designer Lothar Holler is remarkable in the way he recreates the period of the reunification.

Leading the cast as Alex is Spaniard actor Daniel Brühl, whom is clearly the star of the show. Delivering a performance full of energy and charm, Brühl gives life to this caring, yet slightly odd young man determined to keep his mother's dream of a triumphant East Germany alive. The interesting side of Alex is the fact that this deception, which is initially for his mother, begins to become an integral part of his own life as well. And his managing of both his mother's world and his real life begins to take a toll in him. Fortunately, he has recruited in this enterprise the help of his friend Denis, played by a vibrant Florian Lukas whom almost manages to steal the show with his natural talent for comedy. Another scene stealer is Maria Simon, who plays Alex's sister Ariane, as in her limited screen time she delivers nicely some of the best lines in the film. As Alex's girlfriend Lara, Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova is not only beautiful, but provides an effective foil to Alex. And finally, the talented Katrin Saß, who plays Alex's mom, is after Brühl, perhaps the highlight of the film, as with subtle gestures she manages to build up the complex character of the frail mother.

Perhaps the best thing about Wolfgang Becker's "Good Bye, Lenin!" is the way he manages to tackle its political subject without losing the charm or the warmth of his film. And this is mainly because the film never stops being a family drama. Certainly, politics play a major role in the plot, given that Christiane's ardent socialism is contrasted to her children's desire for change (Ariane eagerly embracing capitalism while Alex growing a bit disenchanted by it). However, the neutral, apolitical cynicism that Becker takes about politics prevents the film from taking a side of the political spectrum, and as written above, actually criticizes both economical systems. What matters in "Good Bye, Lenin!" is not whose in power, but the unity of a family, as Alex's insane attempt to create a living dream for his mother ends up uniting his family more than ever. And in this strong emotional core lays the heart of the film.

Witty, clever, and even poignant, "Good Bye, Lenin!" is a terrific tragicomedy that offers a nice portrait of a family living through the difficult years of German reunification. Director Wolfgang Becker has built up a charming film that's not only funny, but also touching without falling in cheap sentimentalism or mere nostalgia. If the movie has any flaw, that would be that's perhaps a bit too long, but other than that, it's a more than enjoyable tale of a family. In fact, despite the fact that it's deeply grounded in the history of a particular country, the story has an undeniable universal appealing. With great irony and a touch of self deprecating humor, director Wolfgang Becker has made in "Good Bye, Lenin!" a film that showcases that change is inevitable, and certainly difficult; but the human bonds are often stronger.

8/10
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Satanás (2007)

In the afternoon of the 4th of December of 1986, a man known as Campo Elías Delgado arrived to the luxurious Pozzetto Restaurant in Bogotá, Colombia, and after eating, opened fire on the diners in a shooting spree that would later be known as the Pozzetto Massacre. The killing was only stopped when Delgado was shot by the police while he was reloading. It would later be discovered that before the Pozzetto killings, he also had killed three more people, including his own mother. The case shocked Colombia, particularly as the details of Delgado's life began to be made public. Writer Mario Mendoza Zambrano, a former classmate of Delgado, was particularly interested in the case and in the year 2002 published a fictionalized account of Delgado's last days titled "Satanás", in which Mendoza uses the Pozetto Massacre as basis to explore the nature of evil. The novel earned lots of praise in its native country and was soon adapted for a film, which was directed by Andres Baiz and released in 2007 with the same title, "Satanás".

The film opens with a woman named Alicia (Marcela Valencia) who confesses Father Ernesto (Blas Jaramillo) her desire of murdering her children to prevent them the suffering of living in poverty. Father Ernesto tries to comfort her but later, Alicia fulfills her desire, deeply affecting Father Ernesto, who had already in a crisis of faith due to his growing feelings towards his assistant Irene (Isabel Gaona). In the same neighborhood lives Paola (Marcela Mar), a beautiful woman who works at he marketplace, struggling to earn some money. Two friends, Pablo and Alberto (Andrés Parra and Diego Vásquez respectively) propose her to join them in a con to rob wealthy businessmen. Finally, there's Eliseo (Damián Alcázar), a Vietnam veteran and English teacher whom enjoys literature but has never been able to maintain social relationships. Eliseo lives with his mother (Teresa Gutiérrez), who constantly berates his son for his lack of success in life. Eliseo's resentment towards life begins to grow stronger, and his mind is a bomb ready to explode.

Adapted by director Andrés Baiz himself, "Satanás" (literally "Satan") takes several liberties with Mendoza's novel (the main one being the omission of a fourth story, the one of a character named Andrés. It's also set in current times instead of the 1980s), though it remains faithful to the core themes of the story, that is, it's exploration on the nature of evil. The three stories that collide in "Satanás" share the common theme of humanity's inherent evil, with the three characters experiencing different digress of evil, not only in the society they live in, but especially in themselves; not only the evil they suffer or witness, but most importantly, the one they inflict on others. In the story, Eliseo is fascinated by Robert Louis Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", and the novel's theme of duality, of the evil that's hidden inside every person is echoed in the film, not only in the obvious case of Eliseo, but also in the lives of Paola and Father Ernesto. The different degrees in which they succumb to this inherent evil is the focus of Baiz' screenplay.

As a director, Baiz shows a very competent and polished technique, enhanced a lot by the remarkable work of cinematography done by Mauricio Vidal, which captures a city of Bogotá on the verge of becoming a urban nightmare, reflects the inner conflicts of Baiz' characters. Social inequity is another important theme reflected in Baiz' work, as several times he juxtaposes the wealthy neighborhoods of Bogotá with its decayed ones, again as two different sides of the same coin. The differences between social classes play a major role in the three stories, and Baiz handles this without resorting to cheap melodrama, never betraying the dark tone of his story. Baiz' visual style is polished, but now without a certain degree of gritty realism, which comes up as appropriate given the subject matter of his story. His narrative, dealing with three separated but interconnected stories is unfortunately a bit uneven, as while some of the stories are remarkably developed, others seem forced and even disposable.

The acting is perhaps the film's strongest element, as despite the screenplay's problems, the cast makes a remarkable job in their performances. Leading the cast is Mexican actor Damián Alcázar, delivering one of his best works as the disturbed Eliseo (the analog of real life Campo Elías Delgado). Not only Alcázar shows an acceptable domain of the Colombian accent, he creates a complex character that feels so real in his development that it's frightening. Certainly, Eliseo is the kind of character that could had easily been transformed into an over the top caricature, but Alcázar keeps a restrained approach that makes him believable. Equally restrained is Blas Jaramillo's work as Father Ernesto, the tortured priest with a crisis of faith. Jaramillo delivers a pretty effective work which shines particularly in his interviews with the deranged Alicia. The beautiful Marcela Mar plays Paola, and while her character's story is easily the worst developed of the film, she manages to add a good amount of strength and dignity to her poorly written role, and that's quite an accomplishment.

As written above, "Satanás" is built as a three separated story lines that eventually interconnect at some point. The inherent difficulty of this device is that one or more stories may not be as well structured as the others, and that's precisely what happens in "Satanás". While the story of Eliseo is a powerful deconstruction of what could had been in the mind of a seriously disturbed man, the stories of Father Ernesto and Paola are considerably weaker, particularly Paola's which could had been removed entirely from the film without any problem. Father Ernesto's story presents a truly interesting premise, particularly as he begins to be obsessed with the actions of Alicia, the woman he could not help. However, Baiz fails to exploit the potential of the story and, without any sensation of risk or drama, the story ends up as merely anecdotal. Paola's tale on the other hand, seems to be done for the sake of shocking value, as while her descent into darkness is pretty graphic, thematically is pretty shallow and her connection to the other stories is purely coincidental. And not in a good way.

In his feature length debut, director Andrés Baiz shows great technique and a well defined visual style. Unfortunately, his work with the screenplay is a tad uneven, resulting in a film that while remarkable in many aspects, may feel ultimately unsatisfying. Nevertheless, "Satanás" is a debut that shows that Baiz has the potential for greater things. With great performances by its cast (specialy Alcázar's) and a fascinating premise, "Satanás" is a quite interesting thriller that, taking the Pozzetto Massacre as basis, makes a good exploration of a twisted mind. Perhaps the other stories in the film lack power, but the story of Eliseo is so devastating that it alone makes the film worth a watch.

7/10
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Suchîmubôi (2004)

In the year 2004, Katsuhiro Ôtomo, writer and director of the enormously influential anime, "Akira" (1988), returned to film-making after almost 10 years since his last directorial effort ("Memorîzu" or "Memories"), with another epic story of action and science-fiction named "Suchîmubôi", literally "Steamboy". In this film, Ôtomo dives into the sci-fi sub-genre commonly known as "Steampunk", stories often set in the 19th century where highly advanced steam machines are the fantastic technology of the time creating alternative history and settings. The Steampunk sub-genre shares many similarities with its "literary parent", cyberpunk fiction, so the idea of having the creator of one of the most celebrated works of cyberpunk fiction, "Akira", tackling a steampunk story is particularly interesting. Ôtomo's background and these similarities between the sub-genres force an inevitable comparison to "Akira", but while "Steamboy" won't revolutionize anime the way "Akira" did, it's one of the best feature length animated films of the decade.

Set in Victorian Britain, "Suchîmubôi" is the story of Ray Steam (Anne Suzuki), a young kid from Manchester who spends his free time working at a factory and inventing steam machines following the example of his father Dr. Edward Steam (Masane Tsukayama) and his grandfather Dr. Lloyd Steam (Katsuo Nakamura), both renowned inventors working in America. One day, he receives a box from his grandfather containing a small spheric steam machine, with explicit orders of not giving it to anyone except to famed inventor Robert Stephenson (Kiyoshi Kodama). The young Ray marvels at the device, and wonders about his grandfather's mysterious instructions. However, soon he finds his answers when he receives the visit of agents from O'Hara, the company where his grandfather works, violently demanding the spheric machine. Ray's grandfather appears too, and helps Ray to escape with the sphere, making Ray to realize that the small machine contains a power beyond his imagination. And everyone wants it.

"Suchîmubôi" is by all accounts a classic example of Steampunk fiction as it takes a historical setting and gives it a spin by adding the element of fantastic super science. Written by Katsuhiro Ôtomo and Sadayuki Murai, "Suchîmubôi" uses the sub-genre's setting and elements to tell a story about science, its possibilities and specially its consequences if handled in a bad way. Ôtomo uses the characters of the Steam family to describe what he sees as the two possible uses of science, and makes a sharp (although heavy handed) criticism to our modern capitalist society. In this way, it shares some of "Akira"'s themes, but "Suchîmubôi" has a decidedly more optimist tone, as it's essentially a story about the birth of modern science (in an exaggerated fantasy way of course) where mankind is still on time to learn the enormous responsibility of using science. Overall it's a pretty straight forward story of action and adventure, but the use of this themes through the movie makes the story really captivating.

As expected, the animation of the film is flawless, with a great (and often unnoticeable) combination of both traditional 2-D and 3-D animation that bring the incredible Steampunk machines to life. The movie has an exiting visual design, mix of real classic Victorian designs and Ôtomo's very own sci-fi style, paying honest tribute to the pulp adventures and Victorian literature that form the basis of the Steampunk sub-genre. Despite his limited output since "Akira", director Katsuhiro Ôtomo's visual narrative seems to be in top form, as "Suchîmubôi" has an exciting rhythm, pretty much in tone with the adventure inherent in the story. And this is another of the differences with "Akira": subtexts aside, "Suchîmubôi" is first and foremost, a tale of adventure, and to this effect Ôtomo keeps a fast pace that for his set pieces. And those set pieces truly showcase Ôtomo's great eye for visual flare, particularly in the epic finale, which is one of the best staged scenes in an animated film of the last years.

The voice work is of great quality, as director Katsuhiro Ôtomo has reunited a particularly strong cast for his film. Anne Suzuki makes an outstanding job as Ray, not only because the character is male (and she is female), but because the character is old enough to his voice be "manly". Suzuki makes Ray very convincing, as the young kid discovering the benefits (and dangers) of science. Masane Tsukayama plays Ray's father, giving a certain dignity and power to the character and avoiding most of the clichés this kind of character tend to have. On the same tone is Katsuo Nakamura, who in turn plays Ray's grandfather. Nakamura's eccentric character is effectively portrayed by the experienced actor, and is one of the highlights of the film. Finally, Manami Konishi plays Scarlett O'Hara, the young heir of the O'Hara company, making this spoiled little brat (by the way, a more than obvious reference to "Gone with the wind") annoying yet likable enough to make her a fine counterpart to Ray.

Probably the film's biggest flaw is that it's simply not "Akira", meaning that given that Katsuhiro Ôtomo's 1988 movie was such an important landmark in the history of anime, the expectations generated by "Suchîmubôi" were probably impossible to live up to. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that "Suchîmubôi" is a bad movie, it's simply a different experience than "Akira". In a way, "Suchîmubôi" is a simpler tale than "Akira", but this doesn't mean it's less remarkable. "Suchîmubôi"'s epic scope, apparent optimism and upbeat, colorful atmosphere doesn't mean it's only for kids. It simply reflects the timeframe in which it's set. A time where science is seen as the future, with great optimism and faith. And yet, despite this optimism, deep inside "Suchîmubôi" deals with the same dark subject that "Akira": Man must learn to use the science before it's too late. In this aspect it could be seen as a prequel of sorts (set several centuries before) to the world of "Akira", as the science in "Steamboy" seems to be getting advanced at a very fast pace.

In the end, the only real flaw of the movie is that despite having a runtime of 2 hours, the film feels rushed, and leaves one wanting for more; as if Ôtomo had not been able to condense his story in a tighter way, and often it seems that the plot is too complex for its own good. Anyways, while certainly less impressive than "Akira", there's a lot to enjoy in "Suchîmubôi", which stands as a fine piece of animation by its own merit. Director Katsuhiro Ôtomo spend almost 10 years conceiving and developing "Suchîmubôi", and the effort certainly payed off. With its excellent animation and captivating story, "Steamboy" is an excellent introduction to Katsuhiro Ôtomo's work. It's not going to change anime again, but Ôtomo's movie is still definitely one of the best.

8/10
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Sky High (2003)

After spending some years making independent projects with limited budget, Japanese director Ryûhei Kitamura became a household name after the international success of his epic mix of action and horror titled "Versus" back in the year 2000. The recognition earned by "Versus" allowed Kitamura to keep displaying his talent in action films like "Alive" and "Aragami", movies where he continued demonstrating his fresh and very dynamic style clearly influenced by the Japanese comic books (Mangas). Kitamura's style would reach a peak in his epic "Azumi", a martial arts film based in the manga of the same name, which could be considered as a masterpiece of his style. "Azumi" that many of his followers consider a masterpiece. After "Azumi", Kitamura directed several chapters of the popular TV series "Sukai hai", a tale of fantasy and horror also based on a manga. In the meantime, Kitamura directed a movie to serve as a prequel to "Sukai hai": an action film titled simple "Sky High" (the English name of the TV series).

"Sky High" is the story of detective Kohei Kanzaki (Shosuke Tanihara) and his bride Mina Saeki (Yumiko Shaku), and how their lives get shattered when on the day of their wedding, Mina is brutally killed by the mysterious serial killer that Kanzaki was trying to arrest, a criminal who removes the hearts of his victims. Now, Mina goes to the Gate of Rage, the place where the souls of all the murdered people go to make an important choice: whether to go to Heaven and expect the next rebirth, return to the Earth as a ghost, or to curse the killer and go to hell with him. Mina has 12 days to decide, but in the meantime, she decides to attempt to help Kanzaki to regain sanity, as Kanzaki is now decided to kill the assassin even if that means going to Hell for his sin. While this happens, Kanzaki has not only discovered the identity of the killer, but also the purpose: the killers need to obtain six hearts from the Guardians of the Gateway of the Afterlife to open the Gate of Rage.

As written above, "Sky High" was conceived as a prequel to the TV series "Sukai hai", so Kitamura's "Sky High" is basically the introduction to the extensive plot of "Sky High", the manga by Tsutomu Takahashi. The screenplay, by Kitamura's regular collaborator Isao Kiriyama, starts off with Kanzaki's attempt for revenge over Mina's death, but also spends its time focusing on Mina's own story at the Gates of Rage, as she contemplates what to choose for her afterlife. In this way the two main "genres" are defined, with Mina's side being more a fantasy horror story while Kanzaki's works like a crime thriller, complete with twists and turns as the main villain's identity and motivations are revealed. To this effect, Kiriyama's script is very well detailed and spends a good time into developing its characters and establishing the concepts that become familiar in the TV series. Nevertheless, behind the violence and horror, "Sky High" is a tale of romance, and it's this emotional aspect is what sets it apart.

As expected, once again Kitamura displays his mastery of the visual flare as the film is filled with his trademark energetic camera-work and remarkably done action set-pieces. Kitamura gives flesh to Kiriyama's screenplay in the same way as if he was drawing a comic book, giving chance to his imagination to fly by keeping true to the essence of the "Sky High" story. While "Sky High" is considerably less violent graphically than Kitamura's previous films "Versus" and "Azumi", this choice fits the stylish concept of the film, as despite all the visual eye-candy, it remains focused on the relationship between its two main characters, and an excess in gore would feel out of place. In fact, this focus on the characters is the film's greatest strength, as it allows to give more consistence to the fantastic situations the characters live, and give meaning to their actions. In "Sky High", Kitamura succeeds in balancing out the action and the romance in a natural and believable way, without sacrificing one element to benefit the other.

The cast ranges from average to very good, and this divergence in quality is certainly one thing that lessens the power of "SKy High". Nevertheless, for the most part it could be said that "Sky High" has a mostly effective cast. Leading the cast, Yumiko Shaku delivers a pretty good performance as Mina, and proves to be a good dramatic actress, not only a pretty face. However, her action scenes seemed a bit weaker when compared to other actors in the film. Shosuke Tanihara, who plays the tortured detective Kanzaki delivers the best acting of the movie, as he carries the film with a great attitude and a believable delivery of the part. It wouldn't be wrong to call Tanihara's performance the true heart of the film. Finally, Kitamura's regular collaborator Takao Osawa is excellent as the mysterious Tatsuya Kudo. As written above, the rest of the cast is mostly good, but nothing really spectacular, although the action scenes are excellently choreographed and performed.

While certainly "Sky High" has many of Kitamura's trademarks to its full potential, it's unfortunately not one of his masterpieces, as it contains a great deal of the usual flaws in Kitamura's cinema. As beautiful as it is in visual terms, "Sky High" is a bit overlong, mainly due to the excessive detail that writer Kiriyama gives to the story. Unlike "Azumi" (also scripted by Kiriyama), where the epic approach of the story suited a long and detailed script, "Sky High" relatively more intimate story feels unnecessarily long, and at times it seriously drags a lot. Perhaps a better work of editing or more concise scriptwriting could had improved the film a bit, as it would seem that the film gets a bit lost in the creation of its own mythology. Perhaps it's that "Sky High" seems to take itself too seriously at times, or perhaps Kiriyama tried too hard to synthesize the world of "Sukai hai" in the film. Anyways, despite its problems, "Sky High" is by no means a bad film, just perhaps one certainly that could had been a lot more.

In the end, Ryûhei Kitamura's "Sky High" is a very recommended movie, not only for die hard Kitamura fans, but for those with a taste for intelligent action films. The touches of horror and fantasy give the story a lot more depth and make it stand out among the many martial arts movies out there. It certainly offers an interesting and thought-provoking view on the after life, and contains several set pieces that display the remarkable talent for visuals that director Ryûhei Kitamura has. While a bit too long, "Sky High" is actually a very good, albeit flawed, film that can deliver great entertainment when watched on the right mood. It's certainly a fine introduction to "Sukai hai", which is probably what its producers intended in the first place.

7/10
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Eragon (2006)

Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Christopher Paolini, whose favorite hobby was to read fantasy books. Inspired by his favorite books and movies, Paolini decided to write his own fantasy stories, tales about worlds where dragons and magic existed, about the adventures of brave warriors and powerful sorcerers. Thus was the origin of "Eragon", Paolini's first completed book, which he self-published in 2002 with the support of his parents and their small publishing company. The young author got lucky, as the son of author Carl Hiaasen found a copy of this edition of "Eragon" in a bookstore. Hiaasen contacted his publisher and told him about Paolini, and soon the young writer had the chance of taking the story of Eragon to a greater audience. "Eragon", the debut novel became a best seller, and Christopher Paolini became one of the youngest writers in achieve success in fantasy fiction. Naturally, a movie version of the successful novel was the next step. Unfortunately, not everything came out as expected.

Eragon (Edward Speleers) is a young 17 years old teenager, who lives with his uncle Garrow (Alun Armstrong) and his cousin Roran (Christopher Egan) as farmers in the small town of Carvahall, part of the country of of Alagaësia, a fantastic land oppressed by the hand of its ruler, a man named Galbatorix (John Malkovich). After having eliminated his opposition, Galbatorix crowned himself king and rules Algaësia with an iron fist. One day, young Eragon finds a mysterious stone while going hunting, and to his surprise, what he thought was a stone is actually the rarest thing in the world: a dragon's egg. Soon the dragon is born, and Eragon finds himself being chosen by the dragon as her legitimate rider, and destined to be the hope of those who still want a country free of Galbatorix oppressive reign. With the aid of his dragon, Saphira (Rachel Weisz), and the guidance of an old warrior named Brom (Jeremy Irons), Eragon will finally be able to fulfill his dream of being a hero, a legendary Dragon Rider.

Ever since its first publishing as a novel, "Eragon" faced strong criticism due to the somewhat derivative nature of its storyline that more often than not tended to feel more like an imitation of classic works of the fantasy genre (such as "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars") than as an original work. Unfortunately, the adaptation to the big screen (by writer Peter Buchman) doesn't do much to deny the validity of those claims, and in fact looks precisely as a typical, clichéd carbon copy of previous (and better) fantasy stories. With major changes to the storyline, Buchman's work simplifies things and leaves "Eragon" void of the juvenile charm that prompted Paolini's novel to the best sellers lists. "Eragon" the novel wasn't a groundbreaking work, though it made for an new take on the classic "hero's journey" pattern; as adapted by Buchman, "Eragon" is a simplistic clone of "Star Wars" (itself perhaps one of the best versions of the "hero's journey" monomyth), lacking any identity of its own.

After having build up a career as visual effects supervisor in Industrial Light & Magic, Stefen Fangmeier debuts as a director in "Eragon", in an effort marred by the poor quality of its screenplay. As expected given his background, Fangmeier creates a visually arresting film, with a good array of great special effects that find their culmination in the realization of dragon Saphira, which in itself it's a remarkable technical achievement. Nevertheless, remarkable special effects aren't everything in a film, and "Eragon" proves again that cinema is all about the storyline, and no matter how good the special effects are, a lousy script tends to result in a lousy movie. Granted, good directing can make the exception, but Fangmeier's effort isn't enough to save the ill fated film, as his tacky narrative results in scenes that look beautiful but add little to the story, and in the end "Eragon" just feels like an incomplete, unfocused work that never reaches its potential.

The cast is another problem in the film, as the young inexperienced actors chosen to play the lead characters deliver a pretty average work that only makes the messy lines of dialog sound even worse than what they already are. Edward Speleers as Eragon is awfully wooden, and while he delivers the right amount of angst his teenage character requires, overall it seems that Speleers got the part based on his looks instead of his talents. Same case is the one of Sienna Guillory, whose bland performance as Arya never really becomes a believable role, looking dull and articial. Among the young cast the only saving grace is Garrett Hedlund as Murtagh, but his screen time is so limited that even when his performance is worthy, his character never goes beyond being a two-dimensional stereotype. Now, the adult cast has slightly better luck, starting with Jeremy Irons, who manages to deliver a dignified performance as Brom, but the highlight is Rachel Weisz as the voice of Saphira. Sadly John Malkovich goes over the top without adding depth to the villain he plays.

Director Stefen Fangmeier's lack of experience directing actors becomes notorious as there's no real balance between the cast's performances. Like other former Visual effects artists, Fangmeier shows great talent directing scenes based on physical actions and purely visual narrative (it's worth to point out that cinematographer Hugh Johnson makes a decent job); however his handling of dialog based scenes is pretty much disastrous. This results in an uneven quality in his storytelling, which feels dull and bland. However, the failure of "Eragon" should not be entirely blamed on the young cast or on its equally unexperienced director, but on the badly written screenplay that takes its storyline through every cliché in the post-Tolkien fantasy fiction. While being a film dealing with wizards and dragons, the film lacks any real sense of wonder, it just falls flat as simply another dull and average fantasy tale that unfolds its story without focus and without direction.

After the renewed interest in fantasy films sparked by the successful adaptations of J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series and Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", many other adaptations of fantasy books began to be realized, in the hope of discovering a new successful franchise. Unfortunately for "Eragon"'s fans, Fangmeier's film version of Paolini's book is a quite uninspired film that failed to explore the story's potential. Full of clichés and common places, the screenplay only adds strength to the argument of derivative that Paolini's novel receives. While not entirely awful, "Eragon" is a subpar fantasy film; and the best sign of this is that the best acting in the film is done by an animated dragon.

4/10
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Choking Hazard (2004)

Ever after American filmmaker George A. Romero reinvented the concept of the living dead in the silver screen back in 1968 (with his milestone classic "Night of the Living Dead"), hordes of flesh-eating zombies ravaging the land have become a recurring theme in horror films. The renewed interest in zombie films spawned by Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later..." in 2002 (which despite technicism, works like a zombie film) proved that the zombie subgenre was still more alive than dead, and soon a new generation of horror filmmakers brought more flesh-eating corpses to roam the screens. Czech filmmaker Marek Dobes belongs to this generation of horror directors decided to experiment with the zombie genre, and his 2004 film "Choking Hazard" is his take on the living dead. A comedy-horror in the vein of Edgar Wright's "Shaun of the Dead", Dobes' movie takes a jab at intellectuals by having as characters a group of philosphers trying to find the meaning of life. Certainly zombies know a lot about finding that.

In "Choking Hazard", a group of young people travel to an isolated hotel located deep in the woods, to join famous philosopher Dr. Reinis (Jaroslav Dusek) and take his course about finding the meaning of life. The group consists of nihilist slacker Verner (Jan Dolanský), the naive student Hanusova (Eva Nadazdyova), nymphomaniac Lefnerova (Anna Fialkova), and the course organizers, Nedobyl (Kamil Svedjda) and Krenovcova (Eva Janouskova). After introductions are done and the course begins, the group is joined by Mechura (Roman Izaias), a male porn star who got lost looking for the shooting location of his next film. Interested by the course's goal and seeing it as an opportunity to share his particular set of beliefs, Mechura decides to take the course. However, he is not the only one who will join this disparate group of characters, as a group of zombie woodsmen is on their way to the hotel, and they are hungry. The philosophy course will have to become a crash course in survival when the zombies arrive to the place.

Dobes' regular collaborator, scriptwriter Stepan Kopriva, working together with Martin Pomothy, wrote the screenplay for "Choking Hazard", in which they use as basis the most common plot for zombie filmes (group trapped in isolated location, surrounded by zombies) to conceive a comedy that aims to pokes fun on pseudointellectuals, theme that Dobes and Kopriva had tackled before in their previous short comedy film "Byl jsem mladistvým intelektuálem" ("I was a teenage intellectual"). In "Choking Hazard", Kopriva and Pomothy have built a good set of well-defined characters that, while certainly being based on stereotypes, prove to have a clear identity of their own. The style of comedy is that of ironic satire, with a decidedly preference for the absurd. While the theme of balance between instinct and reason appears constantly through the film, "Choking Hazard" opts for a visceral approach to comedy rather than an intellectual one. This doesn't mean it's stupid, as Kopriva and Pomothy achieve genuinely funny moments in their absurd way.

Using a stylish and pretty dynamic camerawork, director Marek Dobes crafts his film with refreshing creativity and a pretty good eye for the visuals. Cinematographer Martin Preiss makes a terrific job working with digital cinema, and makes great use of his indoors location (exterior night shots aren't that good, being sadly poorly lit). Dobes as well takes good advantage of the digital medium to enhance his visual narrative, and keeps his camera moving all over the place. With an aesthethic inspired by rock music videos and a joyful willingness to experiment, Dobes plays with editing techniques, visual effects and narrative devices that result in a postmodern, self-referential mash-up that enhances the absurd comedy of Kopriva and Pomothy's screenplay. The low production values the film had to work with are unfortunately notorious, particularly in the make-up department, which is really poor. However, the ironic comedy tone employed by Marek Dobes allows to ignore this and most of the rest of the film's technical issues.

In many modern low budget zombie films, acting tends to be pretty average in many cases (as naturally most are newcomers) but fortunately, acting in "Choking Hazard" is above the average of the genre. Leading the cast as nihilistic hero Verner, Jan Dolanský shows the talent and charm that makes an enjoyable protagonist. An all-around slacker constantly annoyed by Dr. Reinis' unstoppable philosophical babble, Verner is not an easy character to like, but Dolanský gives him a vibrant energy that sets him apart. Though the highligh of the film is certainly Jaroslav Dusek, fantastic scene stealer with his deadpan delivery as the blind Dr. Reinis. The rest of the cast is less stellar in their work, resulting in a mixed bag. Kamil Svedjda is somewhat effective as poseur pseudointellectual Nedobyl, but the female cast is pretty weak. With the honorable exception of Eva Janouskova, the women in "Choking Hazard" aren't particularly good (though to be fair, their roles are badly underwritten).

Nevertheless, the film's weakest link isn't any of the female cast, but musician-turned actor Roman Izaias. While having probably the most interesting character in the film (the male porn star with spiritual inclinations), Izaias appears terribly wooden and emotionless in his delivery. Anyhow, "Choking Hazard" may not have the best acting in a zombie film, though this is hardly the film's greatest problem, and taking into account the ansurd style the movie has, it is not really a bad thing. What truly does harm the film is the unfortunately uneven pacing director Marek Dobes gives to his story. Being at times too fast to catch everything, and at others too slow to the point of boredom, Dobes fails to keep his film moving at the proper rhytmn. Another point is his lack of good comedy timing: the ideas are there (and Kopriva writes genuinely funny ideas), but often the effect is killed by the botched delivery of the joke. Czech humor is famous for its use of ironic absurd, though "Choking Hazard" exaggerates a bit in this and comes far too close to ridicule at moments.

"Choking Hazard" is perhaps a mixed bag: a collection of great ideas marred by the shortcomings of inexperience. Perhaps that sounds like the typical justification for many independent horror films, but in this case it's genuinely true: through the film there are sparks of brilliance that show that the team of Dobes and Kopriva had the right mindset when crafting "Choking Hazard". Its absurd humor is perhaps hard to digest at first, but all in all, this Czech effort is indeed a nice comedy-horror entry in the zombie subenre. It is far from being in the levels of "Braindead" or "Shaun of the Dead", but it's a lot better than many similar movies. The team behind this one surely had a blast making it, and it shows.

6/10
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Senki (2007)

In 1994 Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski debuted with "Before the Rain", a British-French-Macedonian co-production that went on to earn multiple nominations and awards across the globe (including an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film), and made Machevski to become the most famous Macedonian filmmaker. Seven years later Manchevski returned with the offbeat Western "Dust", and even when it had a much less enthusiast response, cemented Manchevski's career as a director and landed him a job directing a chapter of the popular TV series "The Wire". For his third film, Manchevski returned to more familiar grounds and went back to his homeland, the Republic of Macedonia for inspiration. The result was "сенки" or "Senki", a tale of horror and mystery grounded in Macedonian folklore in which Manchevski attempts a more traditional narrative style, making it perhaps a more accessible job than his previous output. Still, despite "Senki" being a genre-film, Manchevski's style is still present and true to itself.

"Senki" (literally "Shadows") is the story of Dr. Lazar Perkov (Borce Nacev), a young doctor that seems to have everything: a great job at his mother Vera's (Sabina Ajrula) clinic, and a beautiful family with his young wife Gordana (Filareta Atanasova) and their little child. Nevertheless, Lazar lives under the shadow of his domineering mother and at odds with Gordana, whom is dissatisfied with their marriage. One night an angered Lazar leaves home for a night drive when he has a terrible car accident. Miraculously, Lazar survives, and begins to reconstruct his life. He moves to Skopje in order to start again, a decision that bothers Gordana who prefers to remain at their beach house. Alone, Lazar receives strange visits of a mysterious old lady (Joana Popovska) who speaks to him in a strange dialect. Lazar goes to the university to find someone able of translating the words, and finds help in Menka (Vesna Stanojevska), assistant and wife of an etymology professor. But the message hides a dark secret, and Lazar's trip through the shadows is about to begin.

With a screenplay written by director Milcho Manchevski himself, it could be said that "Senki" follows the classic pattern of ghost stories, with Lazar trying to discover exactly why is he being visited by ghosts, and what does he need to do to stop it. Strictly speaking, in terms of storyline there is no new ground here, but a close attachment to the traditional way; however, Manchevski spices this closeness to the classic formula with nice tidbits of Macedonian folklore, a rich set of well defined characters, and quite a puzzling and ambiguous mystery. To put it in another way, Manchevski's originality is in the details rather than in the plot. And in fact, ambiguity could be named as the key element in "Senki", as the intricate plot twists and turns making Lazar's journey more and more confusing with every plot twist. To be fair, Manchevski manages to keep the plot interesting despite this, but unfortunately, it does reach a point where the plot gets a tad too messy and convoluted for its own good.

But, if the story feels typical and formulaic, the work of Manchevski as a director gives "Senki" a very distinctive visual style that sets it apart from other ghost stories. With the beautiful work of veteran Italian cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti, Manchevski captures both the magnificent beauty of Macedonian countryside, and the gritty urban landscape of Skopje. Visually, Manchevski makes the point of having a sharp contrast between the abandoned natural life of the countryside and the nightmarish, overcrowded madness of the city. Interestingly, while resorting to traditional clichés of the genre (jump scares for example), Manchevski's deals with the supernatural forces in a less shocking way, a more lyrical or naturalistic one. Instead of having the ghosts noticeably otherworldly, the spirits in "Senki" walk the world as if they were still part of it, without any great display of special effects. Whether this was a budget limitation or a stylistic choice, the bottom line is that it does give "Senki" with a quite distinctive atmosphere of its own.

While perhaps not the best leading man in a ghost story, actor Borce Nacev makes an efficient job for the most part, capturing nicely the essence of his troubled character. Capturing Lazar's alienation, Nacev carries the film skillfully, though at moments he does seem a tad wooden and stiff. Nevertheless, his work is benefited by the revelation that is actress Vesna Stanojevska, who plays Menka. A classical musician making her acting debut, Vesna shows an enormous natural talent and a great ability to portray her intriguing character. Ambiguous, mysterious, and complex in nature, Menka is perhaps the character that would make or break "Senki", and fortunately, Vesna's performance is truly a wonder. Sabina Arjula, as Lazar's domineering mother is another strong figure in the cast, as she practically steals every scene she is in with her commanding stage presence. Less fortunate is actress Filareta Atanasova, who plays Lazar's wife Gordana, though to be fair, her role is underwritten to the point of being almost a mere caricature of the unfaithful wife.

As written above, "Senki" is not exactly the most original film in horror cinema, and on top of that, its traditional linear narrative may be a surprise to those expecting something akin Manchevki's previous films. Nevertheless, that's far from being a flaw being that Manchevski plays with the formula to make it his own, dressing it with his stylish visual style to give it a different flavor. While formulaic, "Senki" looks and feels unlike most ghost stories, despite being essentially the same tale, and that's perhaps the mark of a skilled storyteller. Now, the true problem in "Senki" is that at times it seems to ramble on for too long, reaching the point of getting a bit tedious. It is one of the cases where the story would had been benefited by some editing. This becomes all the more noticeable as the convoluted plot leaves a couple of loose ends untied, as if there had not been enough work in tightening the screenplay. However, this doesn't diminishes the enjoyment, though it prevents it from being truly great.

Perhaps "Senki" will go on history as one of Manchevski's "lesser films", but as a genre film, it certainly offers a different kind of ghost story that proves that a known formula can receive a breath of fresh air. It's definitely a film that follows that idea of "style over substance", though fortunately, Manchevski's style is a lyrical one that certainly guarantees a visual joy. In the end, "Senki" faces the problem of its audience's expectations: those expecting art-house exoticism may find it too Hollywoodish, while horror fans may see it as too unoriginal and tame for the genre. One should forget these preconceived judgments and enjoy "Senki" for what it is: not a masterpiece, but a ghost story with a different flavor.

7/10
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