I’ll never forget the first time I saw π, Aronofsky‘s brilliant debut. A friend of mine sat me down, told me to shut up, watch, and listen, then switched the movie on without another word. It was the most intense audio-visual experience I’d ever had, and I desperately wished I could go back in time to experience it all over again, fresh, with no preconceptions.

Aronofsky has since then added to his impressive body of work – some well received, others not so much (I don’t care what you think, I thought The Fountain was a great film). All of them, without exception, feature a protagonist consumed by an internal quest: in π it’s Max‘s (Sean Gullette) search for the perfect number system, ,emRequiem For A Dream sees Harry (Jared Leto) lose himself in the pursuit of heroin, The Fountain has Tom (Hugh Jackman) desperately trying to develop a cure for his wife’s terminal brain tumour and The Wrestler, by far Aronofsky‘s most intimate and naturalistic creation, shows Randy (Mickey Rourke) trying to piece his life together after a heart attack forces him to retire from professional wrestling.

I’ve sat through some truly awful serial killer biopics in my time, so I was initially reluctant to cast my eye over The Last Victim. Sure, John Wayne Gacy’s an interesting subject, but it’s all too easy to go TV MOVIE on films like these. Then I found out that William Forsythe would be playing the “killer clown”, and I just couldn’t resist. No matter how bad the movie is, I always find his performance strangely hypnotic, like he could reach out of the screen at any point to grab me by the throat and make me stare into those dead eyes. In short, he scares the living bejeezus out of me.

This film isn’t to be approached lightly – those of you expecting a gore-fest, exploitation film should look elsewhere. This isn’t a Rob Zombie movie, so you’re not expected to root for the bad guy (no matter how many families are left butchered and sexually abused in their wake). The Last Victim is set while Gacy is safely incarcerated in death row, and acts as an adaptation of Jason Moss’ infamous memoirs. In reality, Moss befriended a number of incarcerated serial killers as a means of researching his Honors Thesis (Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Henry Lee Lucas and Richard Ramirez make the list), but this film focuses purely on the strongest, and some could argue the most affecting, relationship he was able to develop.

Directed by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath

The word “evil” is bandied around too readily these days. When someone resorts to using it, as abhorrent as the actions or behaviours they’re describing are, I think it’s all too neat a summary. When you dismiss something as “evil”, you stop all analysis. You don’t need to think about it anymore, it is what it is and there’s no need to try and understand it. I don’t think this is a healthy habit for a society to get into. If you don’t analyse the circumstances that lead to the so-called act or acts of evil, how do you expect to avoid them re-occurring?

“In 1982 the town of Crippen was rocked by a series of murders at Crippen High School. The killer was never caught. Now, several years later, a production company are in town to make a movie about the murders. However, it seems the killer is still there, and the cast and crew are beginning to disappear…”

Ah, 1980s horror. There’s nothing quite like it, and god bless the Horror Channel for showing films like these, because it would probably cost an arm and a leg to get my dad’s old Betamax repaired. I may be looking at this through rose tinted glasses, but the low budget horror we have nowadays isn’t a patch on films like Return To Horror High. It suffers from the same problem pornography did when cassette loaded and digital cameras became the cheapest way to make a film on a shoestring – without the huge financial obstacle, anyone can make a film of their own. It takes dedication to raise 100k or upwards, and it was a great way to stop wannabes before they even started. That’s not to say there haven’t been a number of celluloid abominations unleashed on the unsuspecting public, but when it costs a fiver for 60 minutes of film you’re bound to see an increase in tat.

It’s proving quite a challenge to write about Catfish without completely ruining it for the audience. Bearing that in mind, I’d like to let you know that I’m going to give it 5/5. If you intend on watching the film, and don’t want the experience compromised I would suggest that you stop reading now. Don’t even watch the trailer. Just go the cinema, completely blind, and drink it all in. Don’t even read this review!

Now, I’m going to show you a still from the film and carry on my review underneath. If you’re still here after that, then be warned: there will be some mild spoilers. Not huge ones, but spoilers none the less. Continue reading →]]> https://www.edatlarge.co.uk/film-2/catfish/feed/ 0 https://www.edatlarge.co.uk/film-2/submarine/ https://www.edatlarge.co.uk/film-2/submarine/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:54:27 +0000 Ed Williams http://www.edatlarge.co.uk/?p=716 Originally published on Panic Dots.

It’s no fun growing up different. At least, that’s what anyone who was born in the early 80s had drummed into them on a daily basis. It’s only been in the last ten years or so that being a geek has taken on a cultural significance of its own, with cardigans very much being en vogue and thick rimmed glasses a must for any scenester worth his salt. It’s quite unsettling seeing the kids who used to chase you around the playground with poo on a stick all grown up and wearing a dungeons and dragons t-shirt, strutting their stuff at the indie disco. But fashions change, and for the time being, at least, geek chic is here to stay.

Submarine is set in Wales circa 1980s, and tells the tale of 15 year old Oliver (Craig Roberts), a young and troubled boy, who’s a little bit on the freaky side of eccentric. It will come as no surprise that it has little, if anything, to do with submarines.

It may come as a surprise that I can be a bit of a cynical git (quiet, there at the back), but this renaissance of 3D films has left me feeling somewhat cold and indifferent. It’s just another way for huge studios to make even more money from films that just don’t cut it. Who needs a plot when you’ve got knives flying out of the screen towards your face? Your FACE. That is, until I had the pleasure of seeing Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, the latest documentary from legendary film maker Werner Herzog.

In 2010, Herzog and his crew were given access to the Chauvet caves in the south of France. Now, those of you who didn’t just click the link may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Well, the Chauvet caves happen to be filled with the oldest cave paintings known to mankind. Some of them date back as far as 32,000 years, making the Pyramids look like the Eiffel Tower in comparison, time-wise.

I wasn’t expecting to be affected by The Rite. Years spent watching chainsaw madmen ruthlessly hunt teenagers through corn fields, and dream demons invading the sleep of supple young women made me feel invincible to the terrors of the supernatural. Like a lot of people my age, I found The Exorcist hilarious (there are so many moments in that film that are pure comic genius), so I had nothing to fear from what I expected to be yet another modern spin on the classic formula of “old priest meets young priest, priests meet troubled young girl possessed by demon, priests exorcise demon, old priest may or may not pass away in the process.” The Exorcist didn’t scare me. The Rite did.

Like all good exorcist films, this one was inspired by true events – but then, they all are so that’s no guarantee of quality. What does make this film stand head and shoulders above the rest of them is the story surrounding the events. I’d even go so far as to say it surpasses The Exorcist in terms of plot, characterisation and good ole’ fashioned scares.

It could be said that Oliver Stone’s movies have gone off the rails in recent years (I stopped watching after U-Turn), but there’s still some light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to his documentaries. If you haven’t seen Commandante, the 2003 documentary Stone filmed around his visit to Cuba and the notorious interview with Fidel Castro, do it now.

Stone’s follow up, South of The Border, focuses mainly on Hugo Chavez and his rise to power within Venezuela. It’s also a damning critique of the US media and its relationship with foreign policy; from 9/11, the Iraq invasion and its failure to locate WMDs, and its insistence on portraying South America’s democratically elected leaders as dictators.

Continue reading →]]> https://www.edatlarge.co.uk/film-2/south-of-the-border/feed/ 0 https://www.edatlarge.co.uk/film-2/pirates-of-the-caribbean-on-stranger-tides/ https://www.edatlarge.co.uk/film-2/pirates-of-the-caribbean-on-stranger-tides/#comments Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:42:28 +0000 Ed Williams http://www.edatlarge.co.uk/?p=765 Originally published on Panic Dots.

Well, where to start with this absolute car crash of a movie. Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides succeeds where the last two sequels failed: I now cannot stand the sight of Captain Jack Sparrow. The last two films had worn my patience dangerously thin with the Keith Richards inspired buccaneer, but he was still the best thing to be found in two truly terrible films.