Tucker & Dale Vs Evil

Stuck for a film to watch I put out a rallying cry to my Facebook friends. They responded in droves, naming fantastic movies I’ve already seen or putting forward ones for future viewing but one title kept recurring: Tucker & Dale Vs Evil. I did a bit of background, watched the trailer and thought that’s the flick for me!

The movie takes the classic horror premise of good looking college kids going camping in spooky woods to find that they’re not alone. But the hillbillies that the college kids think are out to get them are Tucker and Dale, two good-natured – if rough around the edges – country guys in the woods to renovate a run down, creepy looking old shack that they’ve bought as a holiday home.

It’s such a simple twist on a tired horror premise that I’m surprised I haven’t seen something like this before. Alan Tudyk as Tucker and especially Tyler Labine who plays Dale are hilarious as the two hapless hillbillies and there are enough gruesome deaths to satisfy horror fans. For me this is one of the funniest comedy horror flicks since Shaun of the Dead.

Guerrilla House #10 - Don't Stray from the Path edition

Don't venture off the beaten path.  Fall in line.  Obey.  The consequences could be dire.

That brings us to our first flick of Guerrilla House #10: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

On a lighter note, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a film about quite simply one thing: manners.  Several "kids these days" types decide to revisit their hillbilly roots and make themselves right at home.  One by one, they trespass and meet their surly host: Leatherface.

Bottom line: don't tresspass. Toe the line.  Life will be good.  The ugly truth might wipe its ass with your hippy brigade.

On a darker note, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre  is a metaphor for the turbulent times of the early 1970's.  The United States still waged war in Southeast Asia and the peace and love tinted Sixties proved nothing more than an illusion.  At the film's conclusion, Leatherface stands in broad daylight - the ugliness once hidden, now exposed.  He flails about, chainsaw in hand, symbolizing the madness of the era.  There are no answers.

The incredible accomplishment about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is how it still stands up today.  The film reveals the importance of independent cinema.  May it live forever.

Next film: Tourist Crap, I mean, Trap.  Crazy old Chuck Conners finally lost his shit.  One toke over the line.  I would like to see him take his super crazy, highway ranting act to the Love Boat.  Now that's a movie!  






  

The Last Werewolf - Glen Duncan

Last year a novel was published that blew me away. The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is by far one of the best books I read last year. In fact since reading the book I’ve found that Duncan is rapidly becoming one of my favourite contemporary writers. Duncan writes so engagingly that I found myself just being swept effortlessly along with the story. His style is far from minimalist though, he writes in a kind of literary way but somehow uses this to make his prose more accessible than alienating.

The story focuses on Jacob Marlow, the last of his kind after the rest have been wiped out by their antagonistic organisation WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena). Written from Jacob’s point of view in the form of a journal we find a man tired of living life as a werewolf for over two centuries, preparing to stop running and hand himself in to WOCOP. After so long Jacob feels that life has no more meaning and he views death as something that will be a welcome relief. But things never run smoothly, do they?

This is a tale of life, love, sex, death, introspection but with a more than healthy dose of comedy and action. Duncan himself has said that there is an influence from the classic movie An American Werewolf in London that he wasn’t aware he was drawing from until about three quarters of the way through so if you take that into consideration you’ll be able to gauge an idea of how good this book is. Then end of the book left me wanting more and I was over the moon (a full one at that) to hear that Duncan is making this a trilogy and the second part is due out soon.

Watch or Die #19 - Brokaw "Boots Randolph"

Pulling off an extended shot proves quite a feat.  The payoff: it sticks on memory like a Red Fang riff.  And why not go for it?  The masters do.  Who would dare walk out after witnessing Orsen Welles's perfect extended shot in A Touch of Evil?  Or who doesn't feel like their getting the V.I.P. treatment when Henry Hill takes his date KA-ren through the back door of the Copa and meets all the wise guys in Goodfellas?  Even the overrated and pretentious Jean Luc Godard can trick an audience into sitting through his painful Weekend with a brilliant extended shot.  Any fan of cinema knows the extended shot is Brian De Palma's move.  Just look at Snake Eyes and audiences will truly comprehend the meaning of polishing a turd.  And don't you cinephiles out there forget the most bad ass, mother fucking face smashing extended scene of the modern era: the fight Dae-su Oh brings to the fools who wronged him in Old Boy.

Yeah, the extended shot sinks its claws into a viewer's brain, but these influential filmmakers had every resource at their disposal: crews, fancy cameras, and money.

Brokaw front man, Mike Henderson, had a phone (or a small camera), a killer band, and fog.

Yes, FOG!  Listen to me horror filmmakers, when in doubt, add more fog.  FOG GOD DAMN IT!

I digress.

Starting an extended shot with Frank Zappa on the shitter foreshadows goodness.  In this case, the pay off is Brokaw!   Henderson manages to capture everyone in action with surprising fluidity while perfectly framing himself in the process to deliver the vocals for "Boots Randolph", thus creating the most slick and original no budget video I have ever seen.  The  formula: extended shot + Brokaw + FOG = some bad ass, mother fucking shit.

Brokaw will kill your head, so look out for their new record, Interiors, available January 24th on Good to Die Records.

Writer note: I admit to liking Breathless and Alphaville but Godard still makes me want to smack him. 

Thrash Rules! #6 - Cryptic Slaughter - "Could Be Worse'

Used to be into Cryptic Slaughter.  Solid band.  Two questions:

1 - Why do moshing dudes always get their tits out?

2 - As an audience member, why try strumming the guitar? 

Don't try strumming the guitar, asshole. 

What the Hell Did I Just Watch? #16 - Kill List

Man, I love Wicker Man!  It rules!  And not the Nick Cage shit passing off as cinema.  I am talking the Christopher Lee joint  What a movie!

What the Hell Did I Just Watch? #15 - The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman

The Butcher, The Chef, and The Swordsman documents the history of an ancient sword, errrrr, I mean, cleaver.  Each sequence carries a theme: desire, vengeance, and greed.  Its plot jumps around more than former N.B.A. player, Jimmy Jackson (He played for 12 teams in 14 seasons.  Definite chump!).  Director Wuershan's approach keeps the audience engaged and the random rap video is a pants pisser.  The characters are interesting and the Eunuch's demise proves quite clever, but overall, the film just isn't that great.  'A' for effort, I guess, but  The Butcher, The Chef, and the Swordsman will leave one pondering, "What the hell did I just watch?"

Note: After defeating the Jazz in 1999, Jackson

 paraded around with his tits out.