Triple Bill Mini Musings: Nightmares, Real & Imagined...

We Need To Talk About Kevin:
What's it about?
Lynne Ramsay's devestating drama based on the book by Lionel Shriver details the tormented life of a woman whose first-born, the eponymous Kevin, simply isn't right, and in the wake of a horrid tragedy she struggles to come-to-terms with what happened.
Who would I recognise in it?
Tilda Swinton, John C. Reiley, Ezra Miller.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Once considered "unfilmable", Ramsay does a stellar job of injecting an unhinged and fractured sense of craftsmanship as she manages to maintain control over a film which jumps forward and back through various points in time. Pertinent information is scattered throughout, at first with dark mysteries attached, and later on doused in chilling realisation. Ezra Miller (and his younger counter-parts) gives a powerful performance as Kevin, a true embodiment of evil, Tilda Swinton is nothing short of captivating as the tortured mother who is plagued by guilt, anger, frustration, and horror at having an extremely strained relationship with Kevin since his birth, and John C. Reiley provides a welcome counter-balance to the tension as the nigh-on-totally oblivious father. Presented with a memorable visual flair, it can be tough/draining viewing, but it is always a rewarding experience. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for Poltergeist II, and Deranged...


Poltergeist II: The Other Side:
What's it about?
The sequel to Tobe Hooper & Steven Spielberg's spooktacular 1980s horror about a ghostly presence in a seemingly picturesque slice of American suburbia finds the original family (bar the eldest daughter as the actress who played her had been murdered by her boyfriend after the first film was released ... part of the apparent Poltergeist curse) living with the grandmother, and still stalked by an unearthly presence.
Who would I recognise in it?
JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O'Rourke, Zelda Rubinstein.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Lacking the arresting sense of discovery, and pitch-perfect tension of the original, this sequel doesn't half take a while to get going, and even when it does, it's not all that interesting - but at least having the original family back does provide a welcome sense of continuity. There are a few stand-out moments (particularly one gruesome moment that dares to approach the graphic grue of the first film's horrifying, face-peeling, horror-in-the-mirror moment), but when all is said and done it feels undercooked. However, the big bad of the film - Kane (played by Julian Beck as his last film role before his death) - provides plenty of creep-factor, if not a particularly deep plot. Then again, seeing as the first movie was so damned good, the only way was down for the sequel. Alright.


Deranged:
What's it about?
Not-so-subtly-based on the real-life tale of Ed Gein, the so-called "Butcher of Plainfield", whose crimes went on to inspire Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs - and this flick, from the same year as Tobe Hooper's legendary horror. A withdrawn farmer starts to go ever-so-nutty after the death of his mother, who was a dominant presence in his life, resulting in necromania and murder.
Who would I recognise in it?
Probably nobody except Roberts Blossom, but you'd certainly recognise the true story it's based on.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
I'd been meaning to see this flick for some time, and unfortunately it doesn't even approach the greatness of the three aforementioned horror films which were also inspired by Gein's grisly goings-on. The pace is slow, the script isn't that involving, the score is frustratingly repetitive, tension is lacking, and there's only some moderately well-executed moments of horror. On the other hand, Roberts Blossom gives good creepiness as Ezra Cobb - fun fact: he played old man Marley in Home Alone, Doc Wallace in The Quick and the Dead, and was also in films like Doc Hollywood, and Escape From Alcatraz. It's no real surprise that out of the four movies directly influenced by Ed Gein (not to mention Chuck Parello's impressive movie "Ed Gein" from 2000, or Michael Feifer's sorely misjudged "Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield" from 2007), Deranged is the forgotten flick of the flock. Alright, but only just.