Hemlock Grove

Netflix has made my life better.  Most of the movies and television I watch now come from that vendor.  I can’t complain about their latest foray into the media market, Hemlock Grove. 

HG is a series consisting of 13 episodes, all released at once.  That is very interesting.  I have watched Breaking Bad, the first two seasons of Dexter and Sons of Anarchy, the same way: each episode when I found time to set down and push play on the remote.  Netflix cut out the wait time. 

HG has received very mediocre reviews.  I dissent.  To be certain, it does not rank in the same category as the aforementioned series.  I have only seen the first three episodes, but so far the acting, dialogue, and story line fall well short of the Breaking Bad level of genius.  On the other hand, the cinematography is top shelf.  The scenes of the fictional Pennsylvania town in fall colors are breathtaking.  Every face and movement is alive with color and texture.  

I have thoroughly enjoyed each episode and I walk about craving for more.  I have not felt the slightest sense that the action is dragging, as many critics complain.  On the contrary, I find the pace exquisite.  Part of that is simply that I like the characters.  Landon Liboiron as Peter Rumancek, a gypsy lad who goes postal during each full moon is what I was in high school, except for the handsome, sexy, and werewolf things.  Bill Skarsgård as Roman Godfrey is a sort of younger, handsomer Steve Buscemi.  It isn’t clear yet what Roman is, but he can do Jedi mind tricks at the expense of the occasional nose bleed.  He has a straight out of Stephen King mom (Famke Janssen as Olivia Godfrey) who seems to have her own pars, as we say down south.  She was Jean in the X Men. 

Meanwhile we have a couple of refugees from Battlestar Galatica: Aaron Douglas as Sheriff Tom Sworn and Kandyse McClure as Dr. Clementine Chausser.  What’s not to like? 

The first three episodes already have given me one of the best werewolf kills and transformation scenes that I can remember.  The plot is rich with promise, including a mad scientist and a possible alien connection.  Again, what’s not to like? 

I will post again when I have digested the whole series.  If you have Netflix, get this series.  You won’t be disappointed.  Here is one last image to draw you in. 

Troll Hunter!!!

If you are tired of those shaky, found footage mockumentaries, well, that's too damn bad. The device is being employed frequently these days and it is producing some of the best horror available in years. Cloverfield, [Rec], and its American doppelganger, Quarantine, and Paranormal Activity, were each of them very solid additions to the horror catalog.

Now comes Troll Hunter out of Norway. It strikes me as the best of the lot, as well as one of the freshest and most engaging monster movies I have ever seen. I've seen a lot.

Trolljergeren is directed by André Øvredal. The film is in Norwegian with English subtitles, though a good bit of English is spoken by some Polish bear traffickers. I view it as a general rule that any movie with Polish bear traffickers speaking English to Norwegians is worth watching.

The film begins with three college students following and filming a man they believe to be a bear poacher. Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud) and Johana (Johana Mørck) are both very convincing as naïve youngsters playing at the roles of investigative reporters. Hans (Otto Jespersen), whose truck and weathered trailer they are following, stands of course in stark contrast: older, jaded, and sporting a magnificent beard under his wide-brimmed hat. After several attempts to shoo them away, he decides to let them film the big secret he is in on. He is tired, of keeping secrets among other things.  As you may guess from the clip above, he is not so much a Troll Hunter as a Troll warden.  

Unlike any of the other mockumentaries, Troll Hunter is full of gorgeous footage. A lot of their time is spent zipping up rain splashed pavement with fjords and misty mountains always in view. The wet realism of the scenery was one the things that kept me watching.

One of the bits of genius in the cinematic recipe was a taste for subtly pretty everywhere except, of course, when a troll actually comes into view. There are a few splashes of scientific pseudo explanations, a dash of secret government agency paranoia, and just a pinch of supernatural spice. Let this stand for one small spoiler: the Trolls don't like the smell of Christian blood.

The trolls themselves look as sound about as real as any creature could that has escaped from a children's collection of fairy tales. Since they are always up when the sun isn't, they can blend in with the darkness or gray fog. A Darwinian adaptation? We report, you decide. I'll just say that I can't think of large monsters that ever seemed so real on camera.

One of the most important tasks of dark fantasy cinema is to take the childhood ogre and make it feel real again. Troll Hunter does this very well. I give it four stars out of four.

The Pact

One way of sorting movies is by how much time and money you are willing to pay to view them.  Once upon a time, a good movie was one you paid full price for and a not so good movie was one you went to see only at the matinee price or maybe as the B movie in a double bill.  Right now a good movie is the one I wait for Netflix to send me by mail and the B movie is the one I will only watch if I can get it instantly on your PS3. 

The Pact (2012) falls in the latter category, but I think it falls rather near the top.  A young woman Annie (Caity Lotz) hops on her motorcycle and rides home to join her sister.  Their mother has died.  Mom was never in any danger of being awarded mother of the year.  Her sister, Nichole (Agnes Bruckner) has a history of drug abuse.  When Annie arrives, Nichole has disappeared, leaving behind her young daughter.  McCarthy wastes no time in cueing up the ghostly effects, but of course the really sinister truths are reserved for later. 

The film was written and directed by Nicholas McCarthy.  His plot involves two basic elements of the genre: the ghost story and the serial killer story.  There is nothing particularly inventive about either.  He gives us plenty of details toward the end, but the film mostly communicates through visual exposition.  It is the mood in each setting that is the key. 

One of the weaknesses in the film is a common one.  Too little is told in the first half, so too much has to be revealed in the second.  A lot of characters play important roles for a bit and then become inconvenient and have to be disposed of or in one case just forgotten about. 

Despite these weaknesses, the film is well worth an instant watch for two reasons.  The primary one is Caity Lotz.  Her depiction of Annie is simply exquisite.  Hollywood heroines depend heavily on heavy makeup to be beautiful.  Here, it is the no-makeup look that stirs the heart.  Annie is real.  Damaged, resentful, leading a marginal life, she expresses her feelings about her mother best by the relief that she feels when she can smoke in mom’s house. 

Her encounter with Bill Creek (Casper Van Dien) is a set piece, but it is finely acted and directed.  Creek is what, a police psychologist?  I didn’t quite figure this out.  He has to talk her down after the initial crisis, when the police suspect that she may have murdered her sister.  It’s one of those, how do I get the client to trust me scenes.  I can’t get it out of my head.  Van Dien has a sort of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn look to him.  He uses it well. 

The second thing that makes the film worth watching for horror fans is the mood that presents at each setting.  Here, I think, McCarthy shows his mettle.  Every scene drew me in by the sound and visual texture.  He is someone worth keeping an eye on. 

If you are looking hard for something satisfying on Netflix Instant, this one is well worth taking a look at.