I'd heard that Shia LaBeouf had written and directed a few short films but it wasn't until this week that I actually managed to check one of them out. Seeing as MANIAC is about serial killers I thought it would be a good place to start.
MANIAC is a short mockumentary film in which a camera crew follow the exploits of a pair of serial killers as they try to reach their goal of 8 murders each. If that sounds familiar then perhaps you've seen MAN BITES DOG from 1992 which took a similar path although it explored a lot more themes and ended up being a fairly multifaceted black comedy. MANIAC seems to be more of an exercise in style over substance however and although I know you can only fit so much into a 10 minute short I would have preferred if there were a little more here storywise. But then the story isn't really important because as far as I know this short film is just a platform to showcase Kid Cudi and Chris Palko's collaboration on the track Maniac, or something like that. I'm not too familiar with either artist but that's what I understand anyway.
But aside from the wafer thin plot there is plenty to enjoy about this short because visually and technically it is really quite good. Black & white is used effectively as is the color grading and there are a lot of nice shots including the slow opening tracking shot. Even the action shots are followed fairly well and the soundtrack fits the film quite nicely. I did have an issue with the use of CGI blood at one point and there is a fairly questionable scene involving a molotov cocktail that doesn't seem to act like a molotov cocktail really should, but apart from that there are far worse ways to spend 10 minutes of your life.
If you're a fan of Shia, Kid Cudi or Cage then you should probably check this out, and even if you're simply a fan of short film there is enough going on here to hold your attention for the full running time. Even though there's barely a plot and obviously a lot borrowed from MAN BITES DOG, I found this to be an enjoyable short film and if nothing else it looks great. And you can find the full film on Youtube (or below).
DEEP RED (or PROFONDO ROSSO in its native Italian) is not only my favorite Argento film it's also my favorite giallo and also happens to have one of the best soundtracks of all time courtesy of the one and only Goblin. I know a lot of people argue that SUSPIRIA is Argento's finest film and that's perfectly fine, but if you haven't seen DEEP RED then you most certainly need to. Right now. It's probably as close to a perfect example of giallo as you'll find. It's a very visually stunning film with high contrast, bright colors, Argento's signature camerawork, plenty of blood, a long twisting story and a mystery killer. Check out the full movie below, and yes this video is in English although there are some scenes in Italian without subtitles because some of the original English audio was lost.
DEEP RED: "A musician witnesses the murder of a famous psychic, and then teams up with a fiesty reporter to find the killer while evading attempts on their lives by the unseen killer bent on keeping a dark secret buried"
THE COLLECTION hits US theatres on November 30th and in the lead up this latest clip has been released. Personally I thought THE COLLECTOR was a bit crap and didn't really warrant a sequel but hey, maybe this will be one of those sequels that completely eclipses the original. Only time will tell. Check out the clip below. Synopsis: “When Elena’s friends take her to a secret party at an undisclosed location, she never imagined she would become the latest victim of The Collector, a psychopathic killer. The Collector kidnaps and transports her to an abandoned hotel he’s transformed into his own private maze of torture and death. Upon learning of his daughter’s disappearance, Elena’s wealthy father hires a group of mercenaries to retrieve her from the vicious grips of The Collector. These mercenaries coerce Arkin, the only man to have escaped the wrath of this heinous monster, to lead them through the gruesome labyrinth. Now, Arkin finds himself fighting for his own life in order to save Elena"
I always get a little excited at the prospect of a new Australian horror movie and hopefully Andrew Traucki's upcoming film turns out to be a good one. After covering the swamp with BLACK WATER and the ocean with THE REEF Traucki is now heading into THE JUNGLE. The film is currently in post production but if you'd like to give it a helping hand you can head over to the official IndieGoGo campaign and chip in some spare cash.
Synopsis: “The Jungle” tells the story of an Australian Leopard conservationist who ventures into the remote Indonesian jungle with his documentary filmmaker brother; to investigate reported sightings of an endangered species of leopard. Their trek into the jungle becomes ever more bizarre and sinister – with the realization they are being stalked by a deadly unseen predator”
Lately I've been reliving my childhood through a bit of a DOS game binge, playing the classic games I grew up with as a kid. Surprisingly while both graphically and in terms of gameplay most of them have aged not so gracefully, in terms of sheer entertainment and enjoyment a lot of them still stand up pretty well to this day. As far as FPS games go I love DOOM, DUKE NUKEM 3D & SHADOW WARRIOR but I've always had a soft spot for BLOOD.
As far as plot goes there's not really a whole lot going one here. Basically the protagonist Caleb has been somehow resurrected in order to seek revenge and answers from sinister cult 'The Cabal' for whom he was once supreme commander. But this isn't the type of game where you really need to think about plot, all you need to know is that each level is filled with various undead creatures which want you dead. Your job is to kill them all and try to stay alive (or as alive as a resurrected corpse can be) for as long as possible.
To complete these two main tasks you will come across a wide array of interesting weapons, possibly one of the coolest and most unique collections in any FPS. Starting off with a pitchfork you quickly progress to a flare gun (more shooters need to utilize this awesome weapon), dynamite, the classic shot gun and eventually more bizarre weapons like the voodoo doll, aerosol flamethrower and the powerful shock rifle. My favorite was always the shotgun because walking around blowing apart the undead with a shotgun gives the game a heavy ARMY OF DARKNESS vibe which is awesome. Surprisingly for the time this game was released, some of the weapons have alternate fire modes and there is also a pickup which lets you wield dual weapons for a time.
Using a slightly modified version of the Build engine, BLOOD's gameplay resembles that of 3D Realms' classic DOOM. Apart from shooting, stabbing and blowing apart your enemies you will also need to scour the levels for keys in order to advance. Some of the levels have up to 6 separate keys which can be a little too many in my opinion, especially when every corner seems to hide a bloodthirsty monster and at some points you can have a fairly large group converging on you at once. It goes without saying that you will probably find yourself dying a lot in BLOOD.
Another reason I love BLOOD so much is because of its use of pop culture references and especially film references. ARMY OF DARKNESS, JAWS, THE SHINING, FRANKENSTEIN, FRIDAY THE 13TH, DAWN OF THE DEAD and the list goes on. The levels are also filled with hidden rooms and compartments which provide hours of extra gameplay if you want to find them all. As far as level design goes, I always thought BLOOD was a lot better than other similar FPS games although some of them can be a little complicated and involve a bit of backtracking when you inevitably get lost. The levels are quite varied and you will find yourself in graveyards, mortuaries, hospitals, carnivals, temples and an array of other locations.
As you may have guessed by its title BLOOD is quite a graphic game, maybe not nowadays but definitely at the time it was released. Blood is everywhere, spraying walls and the floor and out of the necks of decapitated demons. Each weapon dispatches your foes in its own bloody way, my favorite being the flare gun which lights them on fire before they explode in a mass of flesh and bone. Yes it is quite tame to look at now but believe me in 1997 this was pretty damn gory for a PC game. There is also a lot of dark humor in the game as Caleb spits out one-liners which mainly reference films like JAWS and ARMY OF DARKNESS and the combination of dark imagery, humor, undead creatures and blood give the game a horror movie type feel which in my book is always a good thing.
Aside from the single player campaign BLOOD also had multiplayer options although I don't remember ever trying them. Bloodbath is the game's version of deathmatch which is played on specially designed multiplayer levels and also the campaign levels. I had so much fun playing the campaign that I never even considered the multiplayer not that it matters because even the single player has a ton of gameplay especially when you add the expansion packs The Plasma Pak & Cryptic Passage which give the game more single player levels, multiplayer levels, new enemies and bosses but unfortunately no additions to Caleb's arsenal.
While it's probably difficult to find a physical copy of BLOOD and its expansion packs, all of them are available on gog.com for a very reasonable price. Fans of DOOM, QUAKE and similar style FPS games will get a kick out of BLOOD but even if you're a fan of retro games I'd say this is well worth checking out. Personally it's one of the best First Person Shooters I've ever played.
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