In A Violent Nature (Chris Nash, 2024) Review

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“Animals don't get too hung-up on reason.” Taking the typical story of a slasher movie and inverting the POV to instead focus on the monstrous killer, debut feature writer/director Chris Nash sets out with a bold hook, but can it be sustained over 90 minutes?...

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Flavours of the Month: August 2012...

LOOKS:

Napoleon Dynamite - we watched this movie so many times in the final semester of uni, to the point that we could practically recite all of it, but I haven't seen it since, until now that is. It still evades a summary as to why it's so unique and enjoyable.

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan - the first time I saw it I wasn't at all keen on it. A few years later and I grew to like it a lot more, despite its flaws, and seeing as Sky Movies haven't shown it (despite frequently showing Friday the 13th one-through-seven routinely), I fancied another dip into it. Yes, there are some problems, but I've come to really enjoy the flick.

Breaking Bad: Season 3 & 4 - the catch-up with Vince Gilligan's excellent drama (with pitch dark black comedy) continues apace. That moment from the final episode of season four was so good I had to watch it several times. Roll on season five!

Beaver Falls: Series 2 - not overly serious, but not overly silly, and a great antidote to the self-involved and totally unrealistic nonsense that is Skins. You've gotta love Barry too - what a state, but he gets all the best lines.

Click "READ MORE" below for sounds, vibes, and an in-depth look at the Pros and Cons of Assassin's Creed: Revelations...

Hobo With A Shotgun (Jason Eisener, 2011)

In 2007 Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino brought us Planet Terror and Death Proof respectively, in the form of Grindhouse - a modern-day exploitation double bill (featuring fake trailers, one of which - Machete - has since become a feature), that flopped at the American box office, but which caught much more attention on home video. Grindhouse might not have set the world alight when it came to dollars exchanged at the ticket booth, but it has inspired a resurgence within the horror genre of pseudo-exploitationers inspired by the gritty and lurid fare that was synonymous with drive-ins across America and flea pit theatres on New York's 42nd street. Flicks such as Run! Bitch Run! (Joseph Guzman, 2009), and Nude Nuns With Big Guns (Joseph Guzman, 2010), hark back to infamous rape/revenge movies such as Last House on the Left (Wes Craven, 1972) and I Spit On Your Grave (Meir Zarchi, 1978), while more tongue-in-cheek outings such as Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009) are half-homage, half-parody (in the latter instance, of the blaxploitation cycle). Some of these post-Grindhouse movies spoof the era of sleaze-filled low budget titilating shockers, while others embrace it with true affection.

Hobo With A Shotgun is one of the latter. There is a streak of black humour that runs deep throughout Eisener's brash, brazen, and downright ballsy feature length debut, but it's set within a world - the hellish setting of 'Scum Town' - that expects you to take it, for the most part, deadly seriously.

Originating as a fake trailer - completed over two weeks for $120 - that won a competition in connection with the release of QT & RR's Grindhouse, Eisener's memorable trailer (that does exactly what it says in the title), became an instant must-see for the fans (much the same reaction was afforded to the faux trailer for Machete). A few years down the line, and after a typically hardcore short film called Treevenge, Eisener got the money - and the star - for his grot-tastic debut.

Rutger Hauer, in his first centre-stage role for a good while, brings the heart of the movie to the foreground by playing the titular Hobo - a man who just wants to start afresh, to buy a lawnmower and build his own business. However, upon his arrival in the so-called Scum Town, he discovers that it is full of abused citizens, dirty cops, addicts, pushers, pimps and prostitutes - a hell hole orchestrated by The Drake (Brian Downey) and his two sons Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman). The Hobo witnesses the grime, horror, and corruption that consumes the town first hand, and despite trying to stay out of it, he's drawn inevitably into taking action - in a blisteringly entertaining, fist-in-the-air-inspiring, take-down of three armed robbers with - you guessed it - a shotgun. From this point forth he stops begging, and demands change, much to the anger of The Drake and his heirs, who rage all-out war against the Hobo, his new-found sidekick Abby (Molly Dunsworth), and the town at large.

Content wise, Hobo is chock-full with jaw-dropping moments of violence that are drowned in torrents of blood (The Plague being a particular highlight), moments that are illuminated by Karim Hussain's striking colour palette and gor(e)geous 2.35:1 presentation. The visuals are as arresting as the content, and indeed the same can be said of the soundtrack, which features (among others) the John Carpenter-esque stylings of Powerglove. Furthermore, cutting in sharply after a barrage of pounding gunfire and tortured screaming, is the inclusion of "Run With Us" by Lisa Lougheed - a track that those of a certain age will recognise as the closing themetune to The Racoons (a cartoon from the 1980s).

Hobo is a stand-out debut, and one that has a real sense of audience inclusion - it's a film made by fans, for fans, of a particular type of filmmaking. Indeed, this sense of closeness to its target audience, was mirrored by a similar faux trailer competition that was run recently to find a new trailer to be included on the home video presentation (the winner was Van Gore, a clash of slasher schlock and the art scene). What's more, it's an inspiring film to watch (and learn about) as an aspiring filmmaker. While some will no doubt hate Hobo With A Shotgun (no doubt some of the same people who didn't dig on Machete, or Grindhouse), if it happens to be your cup of tea, get ready to experience your favourite film of 2011 - I know I have.

Impressively the Blu-Ray presentation doesn't let the film down, complimenting it with a solid audio/visual presentation, and a jam-packed host of in-depth extras. Here in the UK, Momentum Pictures have done themselves proud by porting over the American "Collector's Edition" Blu-Ray release to our shores (despite what the press release claimed in advance). If you're mad for Hobo (e.g. you devoured every video blog and teaser trailer during its online grassroots advertising campaign), then the Blu-Ray is a must-buy (and at a very reasonable price to boot). Two friendly and informative audio commentaries, an involving Making Of, 106 minutes of behind the scenes clips (viewable individually, collectively, or in the interactive 'Shotgun Mode' during the movie), Deleted Scenes, an Alternate Ending, in-depth Fangoria Interviews, a series of video blogs, the original Hobo trailer, Red Band Trailers, a HD-Net EPK, and the faux trailer contest winner Van Gore. To put it simply, the disc is chock-full of blood-soaked, shotgun-toting kick-assery.

Jason Eisener's direction displays a confident showmanship that mixes well with John Davies' gleefully excessive script (full-to-the-brim with instantly quotable dialogue), Karim Hussein's bold style, and Rutger Hauer's stand-out performance that is one part grizzled arse-kicker, one part reluctant and damaged outcast. Top marks for a first class slice of modern-day exploitation with real heart (both in front of and behind the camera), and maximum bonus points for a tip-top Blu-Ray presentation.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Hobo With A Shotgun is my number one flick of 2011.

Slasher flick revisiting, and Nightmare on Elm Street 4,5,6,7...

So I've been into a right old slasher flick rampage of late - what with the Friday 13th and My Bloody Valentine remakes coming out, it got me thinking about revisiting some of the slasher flicks I'd only seen once or twice on DVDs that were otherwise collecting dust on my DVD shelves - I'll point out that I saw Friday 13th 2009 in the cinema back in February, which is when this slasher revisiting rampage started.

I'll also point out that back in my teenage years, and then again during my time at uni when DVD exploded big time, I was frequently watching slasher flicks ... and that last year I had a whole Halloween franchise revisit ... but you know how it is, there's so many movies out there, that you just happen to stop watching certain flicks or certain sub-genres for a while through no actual intention, it's just how it goes.

Anyway - I started off, after the Friday 13th remake, with My Bloody Valentine (the original), then there was (in no particular order), Madman, Nightmare In A Damaged Brain, The Burning, and Maniac ... then I fished out Friday 13th Part 5 as I'd only seen it once on the DVD that had otherwise been sat around for a few years not getting watched at this point ... then I got the His Name Was Jason DVD, which in itself was great, and in a wider context got me all hot and bothered to rewatch some of the Friday 13th flicks again - I ended up doing all of them (but not in full chronological order, oddly enough).

Then a poll on Homepage of the Dead - about picking your favourite slasher icon (Jason, Freddy, Michael or Leatherface) got me intrigued in going back to Nightmare on Elm Street 4 through 7 - movies I'd only seen once-a-piece many years ago (the first three I've seen more than once each though), so, without further delay, some thoughts...

Nightmare 4: The Dream Master - it's pretty tame, the kids are annoying, they're poorly written, Freddy is miles away from being scary or intimidating, and I just couldn't help but be continually annoyed (for this and the two following movies) by the lead telling all their friends about Freddy - if they didn't do so, their friends wouldn't have a clue about Freddy, so therefore the lead is murdering their chums by proxy ... silly bastards. Also - Freddy raps in the credits ... oh dear lord.

Nightmare 5: The Dream Child - thoroughly sick of "Dream" sub-titles now, plus it's a direct follow-on from #4, which was naff anyway - plus, it's decidedly NOT scary ... while the dream elements are creative, I don't find them scary, nor especially interesting ... also, how come everybody falls asleep in the blink of an eye? I wish I could do that, but no, it always takes at least ten or twenty minutes to actually drift off. Plus, Freddy is far from scary or intimidating - he's just stupid, but still the best part of the movie ... then, once again, more end credits rapping - geeeeeeeez.

Nightmare 6 ... or rather Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare - oh my fuckbeans, this is bad ... I mean really, really bad. It's not scary (again), the dream sequences have gotten more ludicrous and downright shit (such as the videogame sequence with a horrendous Power Glove advert-cum-spoof), Freddy is a complete joke, the script is awful, the acting is pish - especially by that black-haired woman who turns out to be *sigh* Freddy's daughter from when he tried to 'be a family man' (with added childhood abuse flashbacks for extra cheese) ... she is really shit - "aaaaaaaarrrrggghhhh ... oh wait, my hair's flopped over my right eye, let me break the moment completely and move it out of the way ... ahem ... aaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh" ... I mean for fuck sake ... then there's that bullshit with the 3D glasses.

Oh, and the bullshit about killing Freddy - with a few knives and a pipe bomb - WHAT THE FUCK?! That's how you kill him? If you can't kill him by burying his bones in sacred ground, or by that weird shit in the church in #4, or whatever it was in #5, how is a few knives and a pipe bomb gonna do it?

Nightmare 7 ... or rather Wes Craven's New Nightmare - a pre-cursor to Scream in many ways, it's actually quite interesting, but sadly it takes too long to really get moving. I feel it could have been 15 minutes tighter with ease, or how about putting a bit more Freddy into it - who, while only really there in the second half, is finally scary again - no more Power Glove gags, no more rapping, no more "oh just forget he was a child killing kiddy fiddler as we sell soft toys of him to children far too young to watch these movies" - no - he's bad ass once again, rocking a kick ass trench coat and boots and sporting a genuinely fucked up face (the make up in 4 through 6 was crap) ... the dude's scary again.

Now - as is the trend - A Nightmare On Elm Street is getting remade. Is this necessary? Of course not, but it's happening, and at least they've got the dude that played the decidedly messed-in-the-head Rorschach filling the sharp-fingered one's boots. Let's hope they at least make it scary, and make Freddy a dark and disturbing figure.

I Love You, Man...

It's got Paul Rudd, Jason Siegel and a plot about bromance - what's to go wrong? Nothing in fact, it's all rather enjoyable - though perhaps they could have gone further with the bromance side of the plot (maybe they will in an extended cut - and hopefully they do).

Jason Siegel (who I'm still astounded was only just reaching adulthood when he was on-screen in the excellent, but short-lived, Freaks & Geeks) plays a loveably entertaining Venice Beach slacker to contrast Paul Rudd's decent good guy with a distinct lack of male chums. The film is often at its best when they pair up (as they briefly did in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which Rudd played the surfing instructor).

Not much to say about it really - it's a solid good laugh throughout, with engaging comedic characters (both primary and secondary), and I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing an extended cut with added bromantics.

His Name Was Jason...

Out of the collection of 'franchise slashers' - the main three being Freddy, Jason, and Michael (with Leatherface hovering around in fourth place - at least in terms of sequels anyway) - it has always been Jason Voorhees who was my favourite. Freddy is alright, but he's too based around quips and chit-chat, plus he turned into a joke far too soon - not to mention too large of a cultural figure, which is especially disturbing considering he's originally a child-murdering paedophile! Beyond part 3 there's bugger all point in watching a Freddy movie - I mean part 6's 'death by map' says it all really. Michael Myers, my second place slasher figure (tied with Leatherface admittedly) - he's silent, but deadly, with a penchant for heavy breathing behind an iconic, but creepy-as-fuck, mask. #1 rules, #2 is decent, #3 (while not including Myers or a Myers-a-like AT ALL) is surprisingly good, but then #4 comes along and it all turns to shit - shit mask, boring plots, and Michael Myers just becomes a pale immitation of what he once was. H20 vaguely increased the franchise's standing somewhat, but it was massively in debt to Scream, and then of course there was the 'sequel that dare not speak it's name' - Halloween 8. Nuff said really. However, Rob Zombie came along with his remake - and yes, it's most definitely a Rob Zombie movie, and while flawed and not up to the standard of Zombie's original effort The Devil's Rejects, I still dig it. One of the best things the remake did, was make Michael Myers scary again - he regained his standing as a formiddable foe, a position long since lost by shoddy sequels. Leatherface - well, TCM#1 is simply a genre classic of epic proportions, nuff said. TCM#2 is gleefully OTT in every respect. TCM#3 has its moments, but ends up drifting wide of the mark. TCM#4 ... "real sequel" my arse, quite frankly. TCM2003 - it was never going to be a patch on the original, and it wasn't - but you know what, I quite like it on it's own you know? The follow-up to TCM2003 was completely unnecessary though. Now - the main man himself - Jason Voorhees. He's got the coolest look, including his burlap sack hillbilly-ish outing in #2, he's got the second-coolest signature weapon in the shape of his trusty machete (nothing beats a screaming chainsaw, natch), he's got the coolest name, coolest signature theme (two echoed half-words and everybody knows who you mean), and the greatest number of cool sequels. Also of particular interest, Jason was merely talked about in #1, and then only seen in a 'final scare' dream sequence - it was his mother doing the slaying. Freddy, Michael, and Leatherface never had that to contend with that when they showed up on the scene. But let's just whip through the Friday 13th franchise with my brief thoughts, shall we? #1 - gore-ific fun. Teenage camp counsellors getting offed in the woods, Jason's crazy-ass mother, Savini's masterful gore effects, it really kicked off the 'slasher set at a camp' craze, and the introduction of Manfredini's fantastic score. #2 - Jason turns up, and rocks the burlap sack look with style. Classic kills, classic plot of - yep - camp counsellors in-training being picked off one-by-one, a cast of interesting-but-simple characters that you like watching - and well, a legend is born. #3 - 3D playfulness, Jason gets his signature hockey mask, funky themetune, it picks up right after #2, plus I got to to-and-fro a couple of emails with Larry Zerner a number of years ago concerning the alternate ending, which was cool ... mind you, Miner's directing skill seems to have taken a nose-dive since #2 as it's an endless succession of characters seeking out strange noises and being scared to do so because we the viewer knows something might happen - but they don't know, so why are they creeping around with a scared look? Plus the dialogue is awful, and that hippy chick's 'scared' moment is nothing short of laughable. However - Jason rocks up and you get basically 30 minutes of awesome to cap-off a kinda rocky flick. #4 - follows #3 directly which is just awesome, Savini is back, the characters are again interesting-but-simple (and genuinely entertaining), it looks great, Crispin Glover gets the best death - and dance, Jason gets killed, it looks fantastic, the woods are dark, scary and it's lashing down a storm when shit kicks off - which is how the franchise works best. #5 - aye, it's not good really is it? At least it still looks like #4, so this is the last time we'll see the night-time lit and shot in such as a way as they had been doing ... and, well, there is some nice totty throughout. Certainly the lowest point in the franchise thus far unfortunately. #6 - JASON LIVES! The birth of 'zombie' Jason, Alice Cooper on the soundtrack, pure OTT fun, Thom Mathews being thoroughly 1980s, and I have fond memories of watching it on Christmas Day many years ago (it was a present, along with...) #7 - Jason's best un-masked appearance - the effects are simply jaw-dropping - Kane Hodder's first character-defining entry, telekenesis is an interesting addition, some nice totty, a last hurrah for the 'kids having a house party' plot ... such a shame that it was neutered by the MPAA - the uncut footage would have made it much ballsier. #8 - the last properly good Jason movie, one could argue - although calling it "Jason Takes Manhattan" is a bit daft when it takes an hour to get to the Big Apple, and the whole 'kids voice, vomits lake water, turns into boy Jason' bit at the end was just stupid, and again the MPAA stuck their stupid nose in and neutered it - still though, this is Hodder's finest moment as Jason - the dude just rocks throughout - it's amazing how much joy you get out of him punting a ghetto blaster down the pavement ... everything in Manhattan rocks, if only they'd had some more cash to extend all that ... the themetune of "The Darkest Side of the Night" kicks ass, Jason's 'pruned and soggy' look is cool, it's nowhere near as shoddy as I originally thought it was when I first saw it as a teenager, and despite it's flaws I'm now quite fond of it. #9 - the gore is cool, and any time Kane Hodder is on screen I'm liking it ... then they come along and think 'outside of the box' and forget to bring Jason with them, so instead we get a bunch of twats we don't care about whatsoever farting around being chased by Jason's soul ... ugh ... then there's the distracting inclusion of a couple of Evil Dead references in the final act, Jason getting taken to hell, the utterly daft "Final Friday" moniker (New Line were never going to buy a franchise to kill it off, sheesh!) and the seed for a turd-festival "VS" mash-up happens. #10 - I enjoyed the idea of 'Jason in space', but converse to my thoughts 'then and now' on #8, #10 isn't as good as I once thought ... anyway, the final appearance of Kane Hodder who simply IS Jason is good, there's some nice kill gags, some interesting ideas (even though Uber-Jason doesn't look as cool as he should really). Freddy VS Jason - a spin off, rather than a franchise-follower in my view, it was complete gash when I saw it and I've never been back. Cringey Nu-Metal soundtrack, not at all scary, it's got 'that one out of Destiny's Child ... I think' in it, it's too slick, Kane Hodder isn't in it anymore and ugh ... I just didn't care for it at all ... at least it had Monica Keena in it though. Friday 13th 2009 ... well, you can see my thoughts on that here: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/02/friday-13th-2009and-another-rant-about.html