Abominog

Die Tür (2009)

Don't look back

Interesting and unpredictable new take on the Invasion of the Body Snatchers set in a small and cozy community with a vague national identity (the neighborhood is located in a somewhat hypothetical European country).

Tense, often disturbing and occasionally scary, but nevertheless fascinating and heartbreaking psychological drama trying to address (and raising even more) eternal and complex questions, most people use to ask themselves, at least once in a lifetime:

• what shall I do if I find a secret pathway led to relive my life?;

• what price am I ready to pay to be able to slightly re-adjust whatever I have done wrong;

• how far can I go to remedy irreparable and to get back what I have lost?; and perhaps the most essential question:

• do I really want a second chance to be offered?

The story isn't much preoccupied with its fantastic premise, doesn't care about "butterfly effect" aspect and effortlessly tackles the "time travel paradox" issues in its own grim fashion. Yet it is open for multiple interpretations.

But I'd rather say that this film has reinforced my strong belief that some doors are better left locked forever.

The Road (2011)

Sorry mama, it won't happen again

An off-beat and gripping Filipino ghost tale.

It is essentially a sort of Pinoy Norman Bates story told in retrospective spanning two decades, with heavy amount of supernatural and sufficiently creepy elements thrown in for a good reason.

The yarn is simply structured and easy to follow. The chain of events revolving around the stark consequences of abused childhood experience is pretty dark and disturbing. Overall, in my opinion, the film has balanced mix of mystery, horror, drama ... and comedy.

Comedy? Well, I must be kidding, but I count one particular instance, which may be regarded, to certain extent, as a kind of comic relief in the midst of mostly depressive storyline: a redundant exposure of excessive puke masses ejected on the floor wasn't a fun part unless accompanied by the mother's self-mocking chant. Yum!

The direction perhaps is too heavy-handed at times with superfluous horrific clichés methodically stuck on one another, and the conclusion is somewhat rushed and improbable. But hey, the horror genre is rarely and less than anything else associated with scientifically correct, 100% logical, polished, visually stunning and accomplished piece of art.

Not bad at all.

Brestskaya krepost (2010)

I imagined the war, but I never imagined the war to be like that...

A convincing and brutal drama about the war's ugly and scary face, which is as much poignant as it is riveting and engrossing from start to finish.

The doomed fortress of the border town of Brest was built a hundred years before the first onset of German deceitful invasion into the Soviet land at early dawn of June 22, 1941. It had been changing hands several times before, notably in 1918 when it was surrendered to the Germans under notorious Brest Peace Treaty. It was released thereafter to the Poles, then liberated by the Red Army, then transferred to Poland again. Under the Polish administration the fortress was first affected by German air raid in 1939 and significantly damaged under the massive onslaught of the German troops.

Before the end of 1939 the city of Brest (and its fortress) was finally incorporated into the Soviet Union. By the commencement of war, the Brest fortress was a home to a number of Soviet military units - infantry battalions, reconnaissance and artillery regiments, miscellaneous attached units and troops, all-in-all up to 8000 servicemen and several hundreds of their families, wives and children were stationed therein.

The film starts unfolding peacefully on the eve of the war - a regular day in the lives of ordinary people in a military compound - orchestra rehearsals, dancing, shopping, kisses, Saturday evening film screening - the late peaceful everyday routine...

Persistent rumors that the Germans were cranking up preparations for a breakthrough on the border were considered as sabotage and eventually suppressed. But anticipation of imminent disaster was intensified by a particularly creepy late night scene of the special vanguard troops disguised in Soviet military uniform disembarking from a train following subdued German language orders.

Heavy artillery fire that all of a sudden pierced silence at the daybreak of June 22 instantly inflicted heavy human and material losses, disrupted communication, cut off power supply and destroyed military munitions. Followed by meticulously coordinated combat assault immediately afterward, it took the inhabitants by surprise and split the garrison into several relatively small and isolated pockets of nevertheless pretty fierce resistance.

Under massive German attacks the city was defeated fairly early, whereas the small number of the besieged Brest fortress survivors with scarce resources, deprived of food, water and medicine, and with narrowing hope for reinforcement or backing from the retreating regular forces, kept on defending the small plot of Soviet land against the invaders for many days.

Though the essence of the story is certainly a portrayal of the valor of Soviet soldiers that lost their lives defending the first citadel and symbol of Russian resistance, the film manages to avoid as much as possible worn-out heroic clichés and propagandistic pathos that were often compulsory elements even in the best examples of Soviet war movies of the past. Yet, unlike many politically engaged modern movies, it resists the temptation to deride the peculiarities of Soviet lifestyle of that time and to speculate on the popular issues of "Stalinist regime's atrocities".

Instead, the film focuses on accurate capturing of a full range of authentic human emotions from joy, love and devotion at the early beginning of the film through angst, fear and pain as it progresses to hopelessness and despair. It tells the frightening story of regular people, which lives were turned upside down overnight when they end up face to face with unstoppable deadly force menacing their families, their loved ones, their own lives and their country.

It pulls no punches when it comes to depiction of enormous destructions and horrors of war with first rate set designs and visually arresting special effects, but the main asset of the film is, of course, excellent nuanced performances from the entire cast especially the leads - Korshunov, Merzlikin and Derevyanko.

The story is told as if from the perspective of a teenage boy witnessing the outbreak of war and providing narration already as a war veteran that has survived the worst war in modern history. It may be emotionally draining cinematic experience for many viewers, but I believe it could be especially conducive for the younger generation to acquire better understanding of the actual tremendous price the nation has paid for the great Victory.

Exam (2009)

Any questions?

The set-up is obviously borrowed from a vastly superior Italo-Argentinian-Spanish co-production "The Method": a number of carefully selected candidates gathered in a secluded room are supposed to hold a tricky qualification test. The sole winner that complies with stringent (yet noticeably weird) restraints and finds the right solution to an obscure assignment will eventually grab a high executive position with a company (noone is aware of).

Capable cast, credible acting, elaborate and well thought-out dialogs, promising start, gradually elevating suspense and tension among the candidates will maintain interest throughout (almost) the entire length of the film.

I only have a minor question: Would you believe that such minuscule and perhaps insignificant detail as nonsensical ending (based on a ludicrous resolution worthy of kindergarten) may be so dumb that it can easily betray high expectations and completely ruin initially positive impression?

Any more questions?

Frozen (2010)

Open Water 3: Frostbite

I always attributed my insensitivity towards on-screen terrors to the fact that I watched too many horror movies.

Good modern horror films may be entertaining, sometimes engrossing, often disgusting, even hilarious or tongue-in-cheek, whatever, but rarely truly terrifying.

Surprisingly, while watching 'Frozen', out of the blue I caught myself thinking - "yeah, now that was unsettling and scary!" Honestly, at certain moments I felt my heart sinking if I was there on that rocking sky-lift chair, while some awesome unexpectedly angled shots made me dizzy.

Yes, there might be some larger-than-life endurance tests demonstrated therein. I seriously doubt a man continuously susceptible to low temperature conditions is capable of sustaining frozen limbs agility and maintaining consciousness, but everything else I found very plausible and frightfully realistic.

I noticed comments from (frustrated) nimble-minded reviewers annoyed with the alleged stupidity of those poor fellows and proposing some brilliant and simple as piece-of-cake solutions, like rope ladder. C'mon, human brain is supposed to operate differently in various environments. As for me I prefer fantasizing on how I shall cope with dire circumstances laying on a couch in front of a TV set at the comfort of my cozy room than to fight for life at a deserted aerial cable-way, during blizzard, 20 feet off the ground. But considering obvious advantage of my situation, I should be twice as dumb for not being able to guess anything beyond exactly those three (equally lethal) options offered by the scriptwriter, i.e. to slide down, to climb up or to wait for help/death.

All my life I used to be fascinated with wolves (as beautiful and intelligent creatures) but after this film I appreciate possibility to adore these cute furry animals in a remote fashion. The scene with the wolves frightened me out of my wits, despite, as i said, I'm not easily scared (at least by horror flicks).

You'll never find a movie that fits everyone's taste (just check 'Hated It'-filtered reviews for "The Shawshank Redemption").

Like any other good film 'Frozen' isn't perfect yet it doesn't provide for a complex multi-layered storyline with many twists and turns and character development, who argues? Nevertheless, it offers some no-nonsense shocks, unrelenting suspense (without excessive splatter and violence) and commendable acting.

It looks like nothing special, but, amazingly, kept me glued to the screen throughout its sadly short one hour and a half.

Cornered! (2008)

Curses like chickens...

I found quite enjoyable this little horror opus about a ruthless serial killer wrecking havoc on a bunch of misfits trapped inside a convenience store.

If not at all a masterpiece and neither entirely original, unlike the majority of recent entries to the horror genre that seem to be annoyingly cloning one another, this one was pretty well made, with credible performances (both comic and downright dramatic) from mostly lesser known cast, good camera work and skillful directing.

Honestly, the horror aspect of the film was not especially gripping and not that innovative. Gore hounds will hardly be seriously engaged, despite several creepy moments and some fleeting and usually underlit scenes of violence.

What impressed me most of all were the cohesive team work, colorful and likable characters, often sharp and amusing dialogs.

Well that wasn't my main point. Here comes a serious spoiler.

Sadly, this one might yet have become an edge-of-your-seat thriller unless a substantial (hopefully unintentional) strategic lapse of the creators.

I doubt they have deliberately made obvious the identity of the malefactor. But an astute and observant viewer, somewhere in the midst of the mayhem, would definitely recall the order of opening credits and say to himself: "Wait a minute, where the heck is..?". So this wannabe unexpected little twist towards the end turns out to be a blank shot if not a pure disappointment.

Good for the casting director, at least, not to suggest Brad Greenquist for the leading role.

Anyway, regardless of some flaws and drawbacks "Cornered!' is still a respectable effort. One and a half hour slipped away like fifteen minutes, and I never regret watching this cool stuff.

Passengers (2008)

Dead & Buried

I thoroughly enjoyed Passengers, its moving (and rather sad) story, strong emotional impact, beautiful photography and convincing performances, especially when it comes to the part of Hathaway. Some minor flaws (slow pace at times and a number of questions left unanswered) can be easily forgiven.

But I made a terrible mistake to read the IMDb comments before watching this film. Even if those reviews are mostly accurate and do not expressly reveal the truth behind the mysterious events on the screen, the suggested references to other movies that may (or may not) be inspirational for the creators have significantly diminished effect of the surprise ending.

I can easily name at least half a dozen of titles dealing with similar subject matter, but it may be difficult to guess what is actually going on until the punchline, unless you are "tuned to a specific station" from the very beginning and know what to expect.

Do yourself a favor - watch the film with an unbiased attitude, read the comments afterwards.

Wanted (2008)

When style is a way above substance

Timur Bekmambetov is a remarkable director distinguished with recognizable and fascinating visual style. Yet before his 'Dozor' series and a small number of earlier feature films he came to prominence with highly artistic and memorable commercials for the Imperial Bank in early nineties (sadly, the bank has later gone bust and those cool adverts were no longer aired).

With his latest big budget thrill-ride starring Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie he has once again demonstrated his outstanding directorial skills and infinite power of imagination. The film is packed with inventive gimmicks, plenty of complex visual effects and no nonsense stunning action scenes that may take one's breath away, especially when watched on a big screen.

I liked the filmmakers' approach towards localization of the movie. In a dubbed Russian version adapted for the Russian-speaking audience, some of the essential textual information in Russian (like amazing ATM touchscreen messages, guidances spotted on supermarket posters, and even the obscene inscription shaped out of the disintegrated keyboard) were seamlessly woven into the canvas of the film (no puns intended). I wonder why they decided not to replace web interface returning 'no hits' search results with Russian version as well.

Ironically, contrary to the movie, web search engines suggest truck loads of links for 'Wesley Gibson'; the majority however are pertinent to the protagonist of the movie.

The film also delivers one big and interesting message: many people may live their lives unaware of their true mission on earth and often overlook a chance to expand their real capabilities.

Unfortunately, the stellar cast, exceptional camera-work and visual fx extravaganza are practically the only assets of the film, whereas the plot itself, in my opinion, is reduced to zilch, lest to say is pure nonsense even in terms of comic book based movie.

The very idea of an ancient knitting loom prompting for the targets of assassination seems somewhat ludicrous.

Granted they have cracked those damn binary codes and decrypted certain names. But how on earth did they guess that those people are supposed to die but not to be awarded with Nobel Prize or something? And going all out just to obey stupid orders from an Oracle disguised as a pile of junk, I'm sorry - this is something preposterous.

Those people entertain themselves by engaging in killing spree just to bury the fact that their own names are compromised? Who else cares about this tricky arithmetics? I know this question sounds kinda silly and inappropriate in the context of such type of even more serious action flicks, but I always can't help wondering why the municipal authorities and the police seem to be so unaffected with all this bloody carnage on the streets?

All-in-all watchable and gripping at times owing to outlandish, if over-the-top, action sequences, but the storyline is too thin to be fully enjoyable.

Aftermath (1994)

Peeping Tom

Is there anything else on earth to be more enticing than to learn what expects our frail bodies after, um, death. Spanish director Ignacio Cerdà (a soul-mate of his German colleague Jörg Buttgereit) provides blow-by-blow answer to our curiosity and invites us to an exciting journey in the world of preparation tables, scalpels, surgical saws, human entrails and warped minds.

Welcome to the autopsy room!

I don't know which facets of the film, apart of its notorious reputation, may have helped it to acquire sufficiently high rating.

Storywise it's fairly simple and straightforward - a day in the life (actually half an hour) of a troubled coroner (or, perhaps, assistant pathologist or whoever he is) that is fed up with his routine morbid duty and discharges his psychological tension in a non-traditional fashion, right at his workplace. I'm perplexed of what particular message the authors tried to deliver with this one-note plot. I suspect it may be somehow inspired by Udo Kier's character's quirky demeanor in Andy Warhol's Frankenstein.

Artistic values of the film are also questionable. It's hard to evaluate the performance of the actors that don't squeeze a single word. Their emotions are concealed behind the medical masks. There's also not enough room for great camera-work - basically, the entire action unfolds mostly within four walls.

Authenticity - effects and makeup are impressive and the setup looks very plausible, but only a handful of medical/forensic experts can judge how truthful and anatomically correct the dissection is carried out here (if anyone cares). Honestly, I used to think that the autopsy is done to examine the condition of particular organs and to ascertain the cause of death. Now I know that dead bodies are severed, raped and humiliated, intestines are ripped apart, brains are retrieved from the head, stuffed into abdomen and mixed with guts, then the body is stitched back and washed - nothing personal. And what are these poor lads expected to write in their deceitful autopsy reports afterward?

Shock and disgust factor - it's much unlikely that an unsuspecting viewer would discover, to his horror, that the disc he was intended to watch with his wife and kids beside a Christmas tree turns out to be a graphic video manual on vivisection. This obscure item is barely available, sought by people well familiar with the subject and not easily offended. Hence it would be pointless to warn anyone to sabotage this film. They are well aware what exactly they are watching and what they want to see.

Cerdà is really gifted and stylish director, which is clearly obvious from at least two other parts of his "trilogy" - preceding 'The Awakening', amazing black and white short, and 30-minute 'Genesis', visually stunning and moody piece with an off-beat and interesting concept. And I'm pretty sure that one day he will conquer the hearts of moviegoers with his new, more mainstream oriented, material. And sooner or later 'Aftermath' would become a rarity for the meticulous collectors of his "early" "warm-up" works.

But in the meantime, I'm afraid, it may be recommended strictly for medical students or specialists that study mental disorders and sexual deviations.

Grizzly Park (2008)

Grisly prank

Finally I acquired an opportunity to dig my teeth into the anticipated DVD release of Grizzly Park, which I grabbed in a local video store without reservations after having read a couple of positive reviews on an advanced screening of this latest monster flick.

As I expected the film is packed with many obligatory elements and features that make up for a good horror movie: gorgeous scenery, murderer on the loose, deadly giant bear, severed heads and limbs and, of course, a handful of screaming hot chicks.

The acting is decent, with not so many annoyingly stupid dialogs often expected from independent shoestring budget slashers. I was impressed with strong and forcible performance of the leading man Glenn Morshower assuming the role of Ranger Bob, a man who was assigned to guide a bunch of kids sentenced to community service in a remote ranch forest under a correctional program for young offenders.

Visual effects, although not abound and could hardly be regarded as awesome, are quite plausible anyway.

To my disappointment a serial killer subplot is underdeveloped and very little contributes to the entire context of the film and building of tension. After stabbing a couple of insignificant characters the killer saunters meaninglessly between different locations of the woods only to disappear without a trace fairly early in the movie.

Also shamefully, adorable Brody that has landed a role of the protagonist Grizzly Bear was offered too little screen time to stretch his undeniable acting talents.

Yet the relationship between the Ranger and the Bear, as well as the context of Bebe's last phone conversation is beyond my apprehension. The idea is either too complex and not very obvious or, otherwise, too simple to be easily overlooked and maybe requires a second viewing.

But all these minor shortcomings become unimportant when you realize that the main riddle and intrigue of the film unveiled towards the end (in pretty inventive if somewhat obnoxious manner) is whether mother nature bestowed Emily Foxler (Bebe) with a pair of authentic tits or are they just regular silicon (silly-what?) fakes? The temptation to find out the truth was so alluring that one especially curious lad stopped at nothing even in the paws of death to complete his research. I don't want to ruin the surprise ending by delving into further details (watch closely for the final Grizzly attack).

All-in-all a passable start for the first time director and mostly lesser-known cast, and not bad for a brainless Friday night time-killer.

À l'intérieur (2007)

Cherche la femme

French movie makers have only recently embarked on exploration of once an alien territory of splatter & exploitation genre. Previous remarkable and quite successful attempt to shock the audience was Alexandre Aja's High Tension (Haute tension) that literally imbued the screen with gallons of blood. Well, probably one more predecessor in par, worthwhile to note, was notorious product of Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi's collaboration marvelously entitled 'Baise-moi'.

Incidentally, Inside (À l'intérieur) also deals with the issue of feminine insanity and brutality. A young pregnant woman (Alysson Paradis) survives a fatal car crash that claimed the life of her fiancée/husband. Several months later, a night before she's expected to deliver a baby, an uninvited visitor (Béatrice Dalle) with horrifyingly violent intentions intrudes her apartments and wrecks unspeakable havoc on everyone in sight. In comparison, T-X terminatrix in Rise of the Machines may look like humble Mother Teresa and the heroine of Jennifer Jason Leigh in SWF is just a harmless frolicking baby-girl.

The rest of the film is abundant with ultra realistic sprays of gore and closeup scenes of mutilations. Despite being a long time die-hard horror movie buff, I must admit that watching some of the Inside's disturbing graphic scenes exhibiting relentless desecration of human flesh made me feel uneasy.

Albeit high on tension and body count it failed to impress on the scary side (in terms of unexpected instant freight factor). If you watched and enjoyed excellent French-US co-production 'Dead End' (again woman, child and car collision) you may understand my point. Of course, there was a couple of spine-chilling moments, at least the one that scared the pants off me was during the first encounter and peaceful, at the beginning, conversation, when all of a sudden it became apparently clear that it wasn't just a pure coincidence that a mysterious stranger behind the door selected this particular house.

There was also a sense of despair and constant menacing atmosphere throughout the film. But, sadly, it took me less than another ten minutes of the screen time to figure out what exactly this malevolent Gothic looking lady was up to. Hence the ultimate showdown and revelation closer to the end was not sensational to me.

Anyway the film is memorable at least for its explicit violence and gory mayhem and I would be anxiously waiting for the expected Hellraiser's remake from the same directors.

Hostel: Part II (2007)

Welcome back to Hostel

Hostel is back with slightly better pace, more thrills and exquisite entertainment for wealthy perverts. The stakes are also a way much higher.

It takes up impressively where the original left off (nice awakening/decapitated torso scene!); those who didn't see the first Hostel would be briefed on the events and sucked into the business right away.

This time we have three stereotypical American girls seeking adventures for their butts: one homely and unpretentious, lacking male attention (and of course the first target of the predators); another - promiscuous, model type chick and tidbit for the freaks; and finally - the one die-hard smart cutie, such as should always be saved for the final act.

As opposed to the original, now we acquired the chance to make ourselves familiar with some of the clients (suave and hesitant Stuart and over-enthusiastic Todd) as well as the masterminds behind this sick reality show for the wackos of all kinds from around the globe.

Again we have the flock of annoying grubby bubble gum kids (the shooting sequence is somewhat superfluous and unnerving but adds up for the entire awe).

There's also some sort of unexpected (against type) character developments thing, which might be amusing and satisfying if hardly believable.

The pay-off didn't ring true to me (but it may anticipate another sequel, something in the vein of American Psycho 2 or Hellraiser, perhaps).

And in good traditions of the "horrorhood cooperation", Roth introduces some delicious gourmet exercises stunningly performed by Ruggero Deodato (yuck!).

All-in-all, probably contrary to dominating opinion, I found this second installment of Hostel to be an improvement and watchable even for the wider and general audience, (unless some excessive violence and torture scenes).

Did I say it was great? Nope. Watchable? Definitely.

The Hunt for the BTK Killer (2005)

Born to Kill

60 years old Dennis Lynn Rader, was a model Wichita's citizen, suburban Park City's compliance officer, former Kanzas Cup Scout leader and the president of the local Lutheran Congregation Council, yet the neighborhood's ultimate nightmare.

The four members of Joseph Otero's family killed in early 1974 were first victims of the B.T.K. strangler. The killing spree in the area that further spanned throughout the following seventeen years has abruptly ended in 1991.

Despite tireless and meticulous investigation the police had failed to reveal the murderer's identity that time and the the case was remaining one of FBI's top unsolved mysteries until the killer resurfaced again in early 2004.

In an attempt to draw media attention he sent a letter to Wichita's local news room claiming credits for a number of unsolved murders. This has triggered resumption of investigation and eventually led to detention of Dennis Rader who was accused of murdering at least ten people between 1974 and 1991.

The account of Rader's crimes were dramatized in two feature movies released in 2005 the year when Rader was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms.

'The Hunt for the BTK Killer' focuses more on exhibiting Rader's sweet facade as a considerate family man, meticulous civil servant and committed community leader rather than elaborate depiction of grisly acts he has committed to materialize his sick sexual fantasies (which are only sporadically shown in flashbacks in the course of the court proceedings).

The film features memorable, impeccable performance from (hardly recognizable - kudos to the wizards from the makeup department) Greg Henry as the aged killer. He made it to alter flawlessly between mild mannered, affable and respectable Wichita's resident and sinister, calculating shape-shifter contriving a cat and mouse game with the police.

He could have managed to further evade justice unless his paranoid lust for limelight has eventually exposed his disguise.

Only a mere accident and Rader's computer illiteracy has enabled the forensic lab experts to derive a badly wiped out file from a dumped floppy and identify the BTK strangler.

The killer's shocking revelations at the interrogation room about his frightening past when he refers to his poor victims as the "projects" are presented in a semi-documentary manner.

Of course the creators of the film took some liberty in simplifying the story and adapting it to the TV movie format, modifying some details and introducing fictional elements and characters like collective figure of Det. Madiga convincingly played by veteran actor Robert Forster.

Nonetheless it is pretty accurate in providing insight to the tragic events that has kept Kanzans on tenterhooks for over three decades. I guess it deserves to take a worthy place among the best examples of TV true crime dramas like 'The Deliberate Stranger' (Bundy), 'Out of the Darkness' (Berkowitz), 'To Catch A Killer' (Gacy) and 'Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker' (Ramirez).

Gruz 200 (2007)

Letters from the Battlefield

Cargo 200 is set in an average Russian industrial town of Leninsk in late 1984 right after the demise of Gen Sec Andropov against the backdrop of agonizing Soviet regime's decay.

An airhead daughter of a local high ranking Communist Party official befriends a young dipsomaniac at a rural disco. After the party's over the lad offers to drive her home. But first he proposes to drop by at a nearby countryside community to replenish the supply of booze.

Eventually he leaves the girl in the car and walks to a farmhouse where dwells a family of an ex con who makes his living in trading home-brewed alcohol.

After a while the girl startled by a bystander (peeping at her through the windshield) rushes to the house only to find her stone dead drunk pal collapsing out of the table in front of the similarly wrecked host.

The (jealous) housewife aware of her husband's nasty temper locks the girl in a bath house promising to release her when the man calms down and falls asleep.

In the meantime the creepy guy that scared the girl enters the house and is offered a plate of mushroom soup. After boarding with the family's domestic helper, a Vietnamese handyman, the man requests the latter to open the bath house for him.

There they discover the poor girl paralyzed with fear hiding in the distant room.

That's where all the "fun" begins.

The next morning the sleepy little town is overwhelmed by sinister rumors of the missing apparatchik's daughter and the slaughter of the Vietnameze helper at the neighborhood's household.

That was a clever and original premise of the latest film from the acclaimed Russian director Alexei Balabanov.

In his own words - "this is just a movie about the year of 1984 as I recollect it, as I conceive it and see it. I wanted to produce a harsh film on the decline of the Soviet Union - hence I made it".

Well, in the director's notion the hallmarks of the departing Soviet era (as we see it in the movie) are:

• Countrywide heavy drinking (the majority of the screen time is devoted to exposure of different states of alcohol intoxication);

• Total miscreance (a belief in the only creative force on earth - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union - was in fact an attribute of the Soviet society; amazingly the only apologist of the Christianity in the movie is a derelict felon);

• Miserable existence of the millions of Soviet families (the art directors of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series may envy the cast and crew of Cargo 200 - such stunning interiors, make-up effects and myriads of those realistically looking (and sounding) flies lavishly exhibited in the movie can hardly be found in a big budget Hollywood production).

The title of the movie refers to a military euphemism that stands for the massive deliveries of zinc coffins from the combat operations in Afghanistan. A highlight of the film is the scene where Captain Zhurov is reading out loud the letters of late Sergeant Gorbunov addressed to his sobbing fiancé. Very touchy and heartwarming. And definitely not for the faint of heart.

Honestly, it is really difficult to define a precise genre which this obscure film belongs to.

Balabanov himself is more inclined to consider it a thriller. Let us reckon on his view. But I wonder which particular chunks of the film might be regarded as thrilling or suspenseful. Well, perhaps it might be engrossing dialogs on the religious issues, drunken car / motorcycle rides across empty motorways, police raids, oh yeah - I nearly forgot those disturbing and graphic rape, torture and obsession scenes. In this meaning it delivers in abundance.

But unfortunately one essential ingredient is missing, i.e. an articulate plot that might have glued together those logically unbalanced and chronologically fragmentary bits and pieces into a solid and convincing storyline.

Yet this repetitive and irritating soundtrack is unlikely to be conducive to the overall impression.

I seriously doubt that the Russians that have so far established their own mixed feelings and attitude towards the country's past may find something useful in the film that could have helped them to refresh their memories or reconsider their views. It can also be misleading to overseas audience familiar with even worse image of Russia portrayed before in western movies and compelled to judge a book by its cover.

It may however be recommended to those curious about how executions in Soviet jails (before the death penalty ban) actually looked like.

Deja Vu (2006)

Denzel's Doppelganger

An interesting premise - a special task-force is equipped with a cutting edge technology enabling users to look into the past. They do not bother to go further in providing elaborate explanations of how exactly this stuff works but we got to understand that the remote sensing technologies they use have certain limitations providing insight into only particular time span (4 days backward), which cannot be fine tuned. It looked like they somehow miraculously have been deriving satellite "ghost" imagery which is 4 days old.

Initially I was thinking it might be due to some abysmal hard disk storage, which is capable of saving myriads of data from RS satellites in near real-time and these file archives could be accessed to furnish information on any area of surveillance which is only 4 days old and they can manipulate and interpret information shot from different angles of observation that could be rendered into free rotating 3D imagery. And my assumptions have been shattered when I figured out that they can also pierce through the walls.

There was a really gripping sequence when Washington is blind chasing the "delayed vision" of terrorist's car racing across the highway.

I wish they could stop pushing an envelope beyond those already immense technological capabilities. Sadly they went further experimenting with time travel aspects and have thrown the protagonist to the past, exactly where all the confusion began.

I don't want to ruin expectations of the audience that haven't seen the film yet and to disclose further intricacies of the plot. But I wonder what could have happened if Washington eventually managed to find his way to the surface out from the submerged car.

Guess whom he was supposed to meet at the berth beside the salvaged girl?

Reeker (2005)

Please give it a chance

Reeker is a nice little horror flick, well-made, amusing, chilling and atmospheric.

The Reeker character was nicely implemented, scary and inescapable.

A sense of weirdness and despair gradually unfolds to a frightening if somewhat predictable climax.

Many reviewers indicate that the basic plot might be borrowed from "Dead End" and, perhaps, to lesser extent, "Identity".

But frankly, similar idea was the core of earlier movies like "Campfire Tales", "Jacob's Ladder", "Carnival of Souls" and even a brilliant Soviet production "Soshedshiye s nebes" (Descended from heaven). I guess there could be much more, but those ones immediately came to my mind, especially when the film was over.

Anyway I don't care about those similarities and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Hope I'm not alone in this judgment.

Ghost Son (2007)

I don't love you any more

Alas, it seems that the golden times of stylish Italian cinema have sunk into oblivion. And the recent brainchild of celebrated filmmaker Lamberto Bava is yet another obvious proof to that assumption.

I felt lucky to watch many films from this prolific director (like Body Puzzle, Delerium, Macabre and both Demons). Albeit not entirely satisfying they have never been that dull.

A suspicion that this new entry to my DVD collection was money thrown to the winds arose shortly in the aftermath of the car crash scene exhibiting an awkward and unlikely position of the body under the flip-over car.

And the sense of shallowness grew up in the course of the ponderously narrated chain of events that followed.

Dumb dialogs, suspenseless script and a total waste of talents from the international cast. The only character that provided more or less passable performance was the mischievous Mark's son juicing up the entire boredom.

Unfortunately, Mario's son job on all accounts could hardly be hailed.

I look forward to seeing his Murder House hopefully expected to be an improvement.

Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (2006)

Summary: Kim's favorite flick, or how the WWIII was averted

So many bad reviews pounced upon this joyful movie come as much surprise to me.

I loved it naturally. I believe this was excellent, engaging, lighthearted and utterly funny spoof comedy.

I have forgotten when I last time laughed that much rolling under the couch until I got gripes in my stomach. It was obvious that the actors pretending to be Navy Seals had a hard time to keep them restrained and not bursting into giggle fits.

Particularly amusing was Peter Coyote effortlessly reprising and even surpassing Leslie Nielsen's part in Scary Movies.

The fabulous action scenes were reminiscent of Indiana Jones series, and the awesome pyrotechnic effects were a treat. An overwhelming twist at the end, when the verdict of the court marshal was pronounced, made me speechless. This film is a definite winner.

Oh yeah, wait until the closing credits roll to watch out for nice comic cameos by Rice and Powell.

Hostel (2005)

A Lesson of Geography

Dear fellow Slovaks that feel offended with allegedly revolting image of their beloved native country portrayed in the movie could have calmed down. I dare to refer to some of the postings at Hostel discussion boards.

SOME SPOILERS: What a delight to find out that those sophisticated entertainment for wealthy foreigners comes from nowhere else than homeland of ballet, vodka, caviar and Kalashnikov! Just have a brief look at the e-mail address at the 'Elite Hunting' card. (Incidentally, my favorite Sony Wega that vividly and truthfully reproduced the colors of this movie was made in Slovakia.)

Everything has it's price. Perhaps Russians are the easiest prey in that neck of the woods, while Americans are hard to find, if American meat is five times as much expensive as that of the Russian - it's a market economy... Or, maybe, Russians are simply more primitive. And the excitement of torturing and killing a Russian for mere five grands is nothing compared to the sky high pleasure of dismembering a more complex live organism. It would be ridiculous if Russians would feel somehow abused and may protest against the inadequate price-list.

The chick that lured the boys into the trap, Natalya, is Russian. Her blond girlfriend Svetlana is Czech. Besides, no one would judge the entire country by a couple of hookers. The bad guys are Dutch, German and American. Oh, I've just forgotten hideous Takashi Miike (nice cameo!). Contrary to them the majority of the locals look friendly and intelligent. I guess maybe the bunch of zombie-like kids that kill for a chewing gum is something slightly over the top - but anyway they did a good job in one of the final sequences.

The rotten renegade cops that law-abiding individuals must be afraid of are abound elsewhere in the world - otherwise internal investigation officers could have got the hook.

Most of the cars exhibited in Hostel are good old Russian Volgas. I understand that the country is now flooded with major European brands of vehicles, and vintage Russian make in a reformed East European economy may look something extraneous and ancient. But at least this is a part of the Soviet legacy that should hardly be embarrassed of.

The movie is shot on location in neighboring Czech Republic (frankly I found most of the scenery to be quite beautiful and not appalling at all, irrespective of either it stands for the particular country or not).

I believe there's absolutely none of country specific features reproduced in the film that could have shattered respectable image of Slovakia, especially considering that this is just a movie. Moreover the film-goers shouldn't expect that foreign filmmakers could do a feature about their country better than their local producers.

As to the film itself, unfortunately, the concept about a kind of human safari wasn't extremely original as the producers claim.

At least I found Roth's earlier effort, Cabin Fever, to be more chilling, effective and surprising.

Schramm (1993)

Am I Sick?!!

I don't think that any spoilers could spoil the impression and "pleasure" of watching this stuff.

First of all, it's not your ordinary serial killer flick.

This comes to a specific category of movies that either you agree to watch (at your own risk) and blame it all on yourself or, otherwise, (if unaware of the contents from the very beginning), rush away from the theater with a feeling of disgust (or convulsively seek the remote control's stop button) after a first couple of minutes.

It's hard to evaluate a film without a plot. It's just a sort of unsystematic collages of truly disturbing, paranoid imagery like nailing foreskin to a table, scratching inside the stump section of a hip, and other similarly "eye-catching pleasures".

Nevertheless, Schramm is at least one of Buttgereit's mind-bending and loathsome "artworks" that I could have endured from start to finish.

Unlike both of Nekromantiks, which I only fast forwarded and cut somewhere in the middle - just to acquire a rough notion of WHAT ARE INDEED THOSE WEIRD UNDERGROUND MOVIES, that were much talked about.

Oddly enough (and luckily), this later "masterpiece" doesn't bear the director's trademark - detailed accounts of unspeakably grim executions of innocent animals.

I try to figure out whether those are also considered to be high art or pure entertainment?

And I used to think that those Italian cannibal movies were top of gross!!!

WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE that make such movies?

WHO AM I and WHO ARE WE that dare to watch this?

WHY DID I BOTHER to write these comments?

If I only knew...

Perhaps this is a matter of an elaborate psychiatric research.

Zhmurki (2005)

Where's My Aunt Hazel or Russia Where Are You Rolling To?

A mildly entertaining entry into a sub-genre of contemporary Russian black comedies.

The simple plot involves a couple of moronic crooks assigned to fetch a briefcase packed with 'hell dust' that should be dispatched to a local mobster. The briefcase shortly slips off their hands and they hunt down a trio of other misfits that looted the delivery. In a desperate attempt to get the booty back, at any cost, they undertake a deadly journey leaving gory heaps of dead bodies behind. (McNaughton's Lee Lucas looks pale in comparison).

It's a routine scheme with no good guys around. The only police officer (militsioner) available here, which is normally supposed to protect the law, is a scum.

The leads are quite adequately depicted, if slightly exaggerated (especially Dyuzhev's overly dumb and reckless thug).

However Mikhalkov's Mikhalych, albeit amusing for the most part, looked tiresome at times (contrary to expectations) and, alas, not always convincing.

There is a really witty ploy - to introduce that inquisitive kiddie-fatso hanging about aimlessly in every scene with Mikhalkov, including that horrendous mortuary room with dozens of naked cadavers and pools of blood.

Many first rate actors (Bashirov, Krasko, Andrei Panin, Serebryakov, Sukhorukov, Makovetsky, et al.) have sadly minor roles or were even reduced to cameo appearances. It looks like the creators had an enormous task to engage as many renowned names as possible.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not expect any profound and imaginative ideas or, at least, an authentic grasp of modern Russian realities.

Graphic violence, torture, humiliation, fountains of blood, cold-blooded and grisly murders that abounds throughout almost entire length of the movie, serve, as later discovered, to the single benefit of the abrupt pinnacle that lasts, sadly, too short to be enjoyable. And the most disappointing, IMHO, is that, with the exception of the more elegant new clothes, any other changes in our lead characters could hardly be spotted.

A BOTTOMLINE: Foreigners! - Quiver with disgust, this is the portrayal of Russia as most of you have always dreamt of. You might be guessing how we manage to survive here. So are we...

Highwaymen (2004)

What a disgrace to the America's law enforcement system!

A ruthless serial killer travels the American wilderness hunting down and killing numerous innocent female victims at sight with his shabby El Dorado.

The justice is blind, as we all know. The cops are feeble and useless. So it is only up to our intrepid hero (Caviezel) to corner the culprit. He is obsessed with vengeance for the loss of his beloved wife, once lethally hit by the monster's car.

Of course, he is incapable of defeating the invincible murderer on his own. In his frantic pursuit of the horrendous killing machine, he ought to enlist help of beautiful Rhona Mitra. He uses her as a bait to track down the unstoppable assassin.

Sounds intriguing? Well, at least until the moment you realize that all that havoc is wrecked by ... a wheelchair-bound (!!!) crash test dummy.

It starts promising but rapidly gets exhausted after a couple of riveting sequences and falls flat. It even deteriorates with the second viewing, when you already know what is going to happen next and may concentrate on the dialogs, mostly wooden and pretentious.

A certain amount of incredibility is often inevitable ingredient of a good thriller. But the entire idea of this crippled Terminator clone seems awkward and trivial, if neatly implemented.

Sadly, this movie comes from the director of the mid-eighties cult classic "The Hitcher".

Wait a second, there's also good news. The film, nevertheless, has at least one undeniable exciting merit: a short duration time.

Nochnoy dozor (2004)

Night Watch is better watched at night

I was reluctant to see this film for so long.

It was mainly in defiance towards that frantic promotion campaign positioning it as the first ever "unrivalled Russian blockbuster" and "a groundbreaking achievement of the decade".

The soundtrack is annoyingly offered for the cell phones: you saw the movie - now set your ringtone to the Night Watch terrific score!

Now it is allegedly considered as the most possible nominee for the Academy Award, while American either remake or sequel is underway.

A real misfortune of the contemporary Russian cinema is that hardly concealed inferiority complex. Some filmmakers no longer shoot movies just to entertain the moviegoers. They strive with their last bit of strength in pursuit of the ultimate goal: TO MAKE AN EXCEPTIONAL FILM THAT WOULD BLOW UP THE Hollywood.

I don't really much incline to the idea that we are somehow aesthetically and culturally above the rest of the world and that we should obligatory go our own way.

But I'm afraid that the efforts to prove, at any cost, that WE ALSO CAN DO A COOL STUFF with bells and whistles, (at least not worse than the "big guys") may be not exactly the right path to the top.

Well, it's a way better than the arms race, but a work of art falls into somewhat self-sufficient category and shouldn't be an object of that sort of competition.

I believe a film doesn't have to bear a specific nationality. Once it is considered irrespective of the country of origin, and could be valued purely as is, just for it's inner virtues, it may look much more appealing.

To be honest, all that my reasoning, however, refers to the hysteria around the Night Watch, rather than to the film itself.

Unexpectedly to myself, I've bought an occasional (licensed) DivX with the Night Watch just to test MPEG4 capabilities of a DVD player.

And I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. I found it rather atmospheric, gripping and engaging as well as neatly produced. I may say I liked it.

The cast was great, acting - almost impeccable and not over the top (what frequently degrades modern Russian fantasy, sci-fi or action movies). Some dialogues, nevertheless, could have been a bit more articulate.

The cinematography was equally nice - I liked that fancy shooting angles and professional camera-work. Effects were descent and balanced.

The closing titles background song was pretty cool. Frankly I'm not so much enthusiastic about that sort of tiresome music. What is really awesome about the song is its humorous lyrics embracing the entire movie plot.

The idea of the film/book is quite interesting (though not brand new). Numerous dark forces lurk somewhere in a parallel world unseen to unsophisticated humans. Until the time when some of their most villainous representatives would be eager to play with their unsuspecting victims. It is, however, contrary to a certain pact between the good and the evil specifying that both good and evil doings should be controlled and approved by both parties that have established for that reason the respective teams of guardians, the Night Watch and the Day Watch.

Entirely new for the movies with such kind of a pleasant premise is that none has ever got killed, except for a handful of malefactors (like that stoned bloodsucker). Just some pinpoint accurate destructions here and there, minor violence and mild torture. A close-up shot of the finger pinned for a blood sample was the only scene that made my temporal vein twitch of disgust. Menshov's healer-like manipulations with Khabensky's entrails were impressively staged.

A serious drawback of the film is the lack of explanation on some principle points. It's not that the philosophy was too complex for my convolutions. But the coherency of the storytelling was impaired at times. Like certain chunks of the film have been lost among leftovers on the cutting room's floor.

My son, familiar with the Lukyanenko's novel, was giving brief tips in the course of the action, which were conducive to the overall comprehensibility.

Final verdict: not for all tastes, but refreshing and worth watching, at least once.

P.S. Amazingly, the majority of the IMDb positive reviews comes from overseas audience, while the Russian reviewers lash the Night Watch with a scathing sarcasm.

Bumer (2003)

Blame it all on the Germans

Bumer is frequently hailed as perhaps one of the best Russian movies in decades. This might be a capsule evaluation of dubious tendencies in the entire Russian cinema. Once this is the best ever, then which could have been the worst?

Four young culprits of distinctively felonious appearance expropriate a luxury BMW car (of the title that stands for the slangy reference to this Bavarian vehicle, Russian version of Bimmer) and flee to nowhere with no particular aim in view.

Sometimes it looks like Russia splits into two different never overlapping worlds. A regular person, not necessarily representing upper strata of society, from one ("normal") world may, luckily, never stumble across the harsh realities constantly experienced by the persons from the other ("warped") world.

And somehow cinema (most of the contemporary Russian movies in particular) may reflect such explicit division.

It might be either a glossy showcase of heroic typecast of characters or, otherwise a depiction of stereotypic brutal crooks (or minor variations) stewing in their own juice. The golden mean is regretfully rarely seen in our cinema nowadays.

Some may say Bumer is unbelievably sincere and truthful, to the bones, in portrayal of horrors of our everyday life (or the wrong side of life).

Violent robberies and rampant extortion elsewhere on the roads, corrupt law enforcement system, brutal shootouts and bloodshed between the gangs, lost generation - is this all real and does this exist? Undeniably - yes.

Oh, did I forget terrible motorways impassable to that overpraised miracle of German engineering?

But if the sole target of the producers of the film is the desire to persuade us that such horrible world with not a single positive hero in the vicinity really exists and, moreover, THIS IS OUR REALITY - well this isn't something that needs any more proofs. We've seen this all before and we are all well aware that life is full of crap.

The direction is unexceptional and uneven at times. So is the yarn - an overlong and a kind of leisurely road trip with incidental clashes of our intrepid quartet against their colleagues in the other side of the law, or with angry truck drivers, or with militia. It has an overdose of flashbacks and ridiculous sprinkles of casual romantic liaisons.

The dialog is mostly unconvincing and preposterous blend of rather tame foul language and pseudo-criminal folklore.

Acting of the leads is decent at best, but I wonder who might be caring about the motives of the four half-witted laddies desperately floundering atop of the big bunch of muck they have devised for their own amusement: - just to keep themselves absorbed in shoveling their way through this mess to find the fate they actually deserve.

And if anyone may, however, feel attracted to the trivial speculations on the issues of loyalty and betrayal (among that specific layer of the society) allegedly offered by the film - my humble opinion might easily be disregarded.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Zombies would have enjoyed this one

Possible spoilers alert!

It looks like the army of ardent fans of the critically acclaimed zombie sensation from the first-time director Zack Snyder has been propagating to proportions commensurable with the scale of plague that evoked legions of the undead in the movie.

At least the voting history statistics for the 2004 version is nearly to catch up with the one for the George Romero's classic in the course of 6 years since 1998 (i.e. from the time the first comment on 1978 movie has been posted).

If I may consider myself a devoted fan of the horror genre, I can't say I'm a zombie film buff, considering sensitive nature of life and death issue, which is normally provided with a kind of cynical treatment in such movies. However judgment on moral aspects should be tossed away, once we can afford watching that sort of stuff.

Unlike Savini's earlier (good but per se frame-by-frame) remake of the Night of the Living Dead, this one in comparison with the original definitely has agenda and style of its own.

Except for the shopping mall as the main set of the film the new Dawn is totally different (neither better nor worse): more characters (both dead and alive), wilder action, more realistic and graphic violence (even disabled stunts were employed in the movie), more gory mayhem, more sinister black humor (I wonder if Reynolds admits the alleged distant likeness to the handsome mustached folk in the crowd?).

Of course striking visual style and great fx are its primary merits. But I can hardly uphold the opinions accusing the creators in lack of characterization and personality development.

Of course the emotional experience of the leads that found themselves in a situation like that, loss of relatives and dramatic change in usual way of life are concealed behind the opaque veil but it is reasonable compromise for the sake of frantic momentum.

Sarah Polley (together with her stunt doubles) has demonstrated more than decent performance.

Terse and tough as a cliff Rhames is always fun to watch.

Kelly' CJ was simply awesome, while Burrell as a bit zany Steve is a standout.

Two scenes, one with CJ heroically sacrificing his life to save the rest of the gang, and the other depicting Michael's utterly respectable retreat in the end, nearly made me cry.

Note cameos from those behind the original Dawn (Tom Savini, Ken Foree and Scott Reiniger) as well as brief appearance of the director himself (shooting towards the audience with an automatic rifle during opening titles).

Now I may say that I know a true definition to a word "thrilling": I felt my guts shriveled, my lower jaw dangled and my eyes pinned to the screen from the terrific 5th minute take-off until the final flash of the closing credits.

Despite worn out topic the movie has to deal with, it is surprisingly refreshing and truly riveting even if considered to be more action than horror.

A definitive roller-coaster ride from start to finish and a rarely good nasty little hell of a pure entertainment.

I dare to assume (contrary to some prevailing views): The die-hard fans of the Romero's masterpiece shouldn't be disappointed.

Just a parting thought - it was always a mystery to me: if they are so dumb (zombies, not fans) how do they tell the living from the dead and why don't they gnaw each other as much easier food?