Miracle Fighters - Blu-ray Review

 

The Miracle Fighters is the latest Hong Kong martial arts film released from Eureka Entertainment, directed by the legendary Yuen Woo-ping. The film begins with a fairly dark sequence, where Ko Hung (Eddy Ko Hung), is brought before the Emperor for marrying a Han woman. The film is set during the Qing Dynasty, a time where it was forbidden for Manchu people and the Han Chinese to wed, and as such Ko is given an option, die along with his wife, or kill her and live. Ko disobeys his Emperor, and a fight breaks out in the throne room that sees his wife killed. In the ensuing combat Ko managed to take the young prince hostage, and uses him to escape. However, during the escape the young boy is accidentally killed.

Jumping forwards a couple of decades, Ko is now an older man, who has taken in an infant boy he found under a tree and raised him as his own, naming him Shu Gan, or 'Little Root' (Yuen Yat-Choh). Ko gave Shu Gan the jade necklace that belonged to the young prince, which makes Shu Gan a target when the royal sorcerer, Sorcerer Bat (Yuen Shun-Yi), discovers them. Sorcerer Bat believes that Shu Gan is the young prince, and even after learning the truth tries to pass him off as such in order to gain political advantage that he can then use to take over power. However, Shu Gan manages to escape from Sorcerer Bat, finding shelter with two Taoist priests, who agree to take him in to teach him martial arts and magic.

Despite the darker start with murder, kidnapping, and the death of a child, The Miracle Fighters very quickly descends into ridiculous comedy (and even the darker scenes in the film contain some frankly weird moments). The film is chiefly a comedy movie, one that often feels like it's embracing the fantasy genre just to be able to do the weirdest thing possible in order to get a laugh out of the audience. And it works pretty well. Not every gag landed with me, and there were times I felt a little lost at first until an explanation came a little later on, but I also suspect that's because in some cases I don't have the initial knowledge to understand the jokes. I think if you're more knowledgeable of Chinese history and mythology then certain things will absolutely land a lot better for you; which probably makes this a good film for fans of the genre.

Whilst the humour can sometimes be a little all over the place the action and stunt choreography is excellent. Because the film is also a fantasy movie it doesn't have to be restrained by the laws of physics, and there are some truly wonderful moments to be found here. Sorcerer Bat quite literally flies across the set with blade covered wings on his costume that he uses to zip around, as well as using as a weapon to try and slice Shu Gan to pieces. 

There's another character who's a bizarre cursed child-thing who lives inside an urn, whose arms and legs pop out the side. He rolls and bounces around, attacking with a paper sword in a scene that must have been a lot of fun to put together. My personal favourite is the scene where several pieces of wood form together to make a dummy man our hero has to fight, complete with wooden block testicles. The Miracle Fighters will absolutely have at least one scene showcasing something you've never seen before.

Along with the film, the new Blu-ray includes a load of extra features to keep any film fan happy. The film comes with two full length audio commentaries, one with Asian film expert Frank Djeng, and the other with Arne Venema and Mike Leeder; which will be familiar to anyone who regularly watches Eureka's releases. Djeng does his regular thing of going into the making of the movie, the careers of the actors and crew, and will even go into detail explaining some of the things that non-Chinese viewers might not understand in order to give more context and understanding. 

As with any of Djeng's commentaries, it feels like a must watch as he crams his time with insightful and useful facts that has the viewer coming away really feeling like you've learned something. Leeder and Venema, on the other hand, have a much more conversational approach, and chat throughout the film about the movie, as well as personal anecdotes that relate to it from their personal experiences working with members of the cast and crew. 

There is also an archival interview with director Yuen Woo-ping, in which he talks about his career in general rather than the film specifically. There are also interviews with Fish Fong, and John Kreng. Alongside this is the original trailer, and a booklet that contains brand new writing about the movie. 

The Miracle Fighters is a bizarre, almost fever dream-like movie, filled with weird set pieces, slapstick humour, high stakes, violence, magic, and a ton of snakes. If you're a fan of the genre it's definitely a movie that you're going to want to check out, and whilst it might not be the most normal of movies it's definitely both a memorable and entertaining one. 

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Marvel Studios’ The Infinity Saga – The Avengers: The Art of the Movie by Jason Surrell – Book Review

 

When the MCU was first starting having an interconnected universe was a huge novelty, and the small scene at the end of Iron Man where Nick Fury dropped the word Avengers felt like a long, impossible dream. However, only a few years later a group of super heroes would come together to form a team on the big screen for the first time. Yes, we'd had team movies before, such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four films, but this was the first time the team was coming together from different places, a crossover event of the ages. And whilst the first Avengers film has become fairly quaint for how small and simple it keeps things it's still a special moment in cinema; one that Titan Books are celebrating with their next entry in the Marvel Studios’ The Infinity Saga art book series as Jason Surrell dives into the making of the movie. 

The opening line of the book sums up comic book movies well, 'The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a world whose foundation is based in art', and understands why the visual side of things is hugely important for a universe drawing from a visual media. The Avengers are a big name now, but have had a rough history in comics, and have not always been the crowd drawing book that you would expect. Historically, the team has often been a showground for characters that either cannot support their own book, or have low sales. Whether that's characters like Hawkeye and Captain America, or Vision, Jack of Hearts, Wonder Man, and the Two Gun Kid. Whilst their roster might not have been the best, it had some great people working on it, and getting to see a lot of characters who usually work alone come together was a great look.

This is what the MCU was going to have to imitate, the wonder and joy of seeing characters that we'd become used to being solo stars sharing a scene together. The opening of this new art book spends some time going over this, giving readers a rundown of the films that came before it, a comprehensive timeline of the MCU up to that point, and showcasing a stunning piece of art that necessitates folding out a page to fit it all on. It's great stuff, and recaptures some of the hype from the time of seeing this all come together. 

Whilst other books in this collection have split the art of the film into easy to define segements, such as a huge chapter dedicated to Iron Man's armour, another on the villains of the film, and another showcasing sets and environments, this time things are done slightly differently as there's a lot more to cover here than in times previous. There are three main chapters to the book, with each of them covering the film in chronological order. The first chapter, 'Incident in the Desert', covers the start of the film, the part that establishes the reason why the Avengers need to come together. The second chapter, 'Avengers Assemble', handles the Avengers, their new designs, and the scenes where they're introduced, along with places like the Helicarrier. The third chapter, 'A Common Threat', deals with the films climax, showcasing the designs of the enemies, and the battle of New York.

©2024 MARVEL

'Incident in the Desert' takes us behind the scenes of the start of the film, showing us how the world of S.H.I.E.L.D., only really background players in the other films, came to be. Key characters like Nick Fury and Maria Hill have several versions of the their outfits, some of which skew more towards the comic looks with uniforms that involve more blue, and feature the white highlights, gloves, and boots that readers have been used to for decades. It's a shame that the film went for a more realistic approach, as some of these designs absolutely pop on the page, and you find yourself wondering how different the film would look if it embraced its origins a little bit more. 

This chapter also gives us our first look at the first Avenger we meet in the movie, Hawkeye. Whilst Hawkeye did feature briefly in the Thor art book we didn't really see much of him, and this time we get several different costume designs for him, as well as a detailed look at his weaponry; including a couple dozen trick arrow heads that we sadly barely get a chance to see in any detail on the big screen. The introduction of the film also brings back another important character from Thor, Loki, as the film's antagonist. As such we get some pages dedicated to him, including some costume variants and a few alternative designs for the sceptre that he carries with him across the course of the film. 

The second chapter, 'Avengers Assemble', takes some time looking at each of the other heroes in the order that they appear in the film. The first up is Black Widow, who has a few costume designs that are more variations on her appearance in Iron Man 2 and play with bringing her more in line with the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the movie than making her more like the comic. We then get brief introductions to Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark, but as the film doesn't showcase any new looks for them at this point these pages go by pretty quickly as we keep moving through the film and instead get a number of pages given over to important locations like Stark Tower, as well as vehicles such as the Quinjet and Helicarrier; the latter of which went through several designs it seems as the film tried to settle on how realistic or fantastical to make it. 

From here, however, our heroes start getting into costume and we get some new designs for Captain America, several of which I actually prefer to the one used in the movie. Thor goes through a few costume costume tweaks too, though like other returning heroes there's nothing too revolutionary or different here than what came before. One of the largest character sections actually goes to the Hulk, who gets a big redesign in this film since the recasting of the Bruce Banner character. Due to rights issues surrounding the Hulk I assume that's the reason why we don't have an art book dedicated to that film (and why the Hulk keeps appearing in other movies and doesn't get one of his own). As such, this is the first real look we get at the character in the series, and it's super interesting to see the various ideas the filmmakers went through to bring the character to life on screen. 

©2024 MARVEL

The third chapter showcases some new armour designs for Iron Man as he has to upgrade in the latter part of the film, and shows how the falling into new armour scene was planned out and executed. The rest of the chapter is dedicated to the Chitauri designs. Originating from the original Ultimate Universe, the Chitauri were that world's version of the Skrulls, characters that couldn't be used in the MCU at this time thanks to Fox owning the rights to the Fantastic Four. You can see some hints at the Skrull origins in the Chitauri designs here and there, such as the ridges on the chin for The Other, but it seems for the most part that this is the area in which the design team got to try something completely new and as such there are some incredibly interesting pieces of concept art included here. 

These were the first completely alien, almost wholly original creations for the MCU, and whilst the designs had to work in universe with the rest of the tone and style they are also able to push the boundaries a little more. I particularly liked one of the Leviathan design that was much thinner, almost serpentine, and looked more like a Chinese dragon that would have looked incredibly different had the film gone that route. The rest of the chapter is given over to huge pieces of art that cover the entire page, depicting the Avengers in battle with the alien invaders that wonderfully capture the tone and flavour of the films finale. 

The Avengers felt like a huge event, and covering that in book form was not going to be an easy task, but Surrell manages to do that here. The book showcases the process for bringing things together, of how these characters who existed alone were redesigned and tweaked slightly to make them work in the same frame, and how the carefully constructed world that was being built in the background of the other films served as the perfect backdrop for it all. It also, however, opened the universe out into new and interesting directions, furthering the work done in Thor and taking the MCU into a bigger, wider galaxy. With this barely being the start of the shared universe to come reaching this point felt like a milestone, but it's also a key foundational one too, and anyone interested in filmmaking or the MCU will want to pick up a copy. 

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Jade - Film Review

 

There are certain times where you look at the people involved in a film and think 'oh that's absolutely going to be something I'm going to love'. Jade was one of these situations for me. Director James Bamford is someone that I'd been aware of since his days as the stunt coordinator on Stargate SG-1, and had followed his move over to Arrow, where some of the best action in the entire series was done in episodes he'd directed. Shaina West, the British stunt performer and actress, came ton my attention on Instagram, where she frequently uploads videos of herself performing amazing weapons drills, and I've regularly watched her stuff. I've known Katherine McNamara from both Arrow and Shadowhunters, and Mickey Rourke and Mark Dacascos are both just huge names who are always great in whatever they're in. I was primed to really enjoy Jade; yet that enjoyment never really came. 

Jade opens with a snazzy animated sequence that gives us the important background details for our titular main character, played by West. Born in London, she and her brother moved to the US after their parents were killed, but ended up taking part in criminal gangs. This unfortunately led to an incident in which Jade accidentally killed and shot her brother. The why of it all are not really covered as the details don't really matter, but this is a bugbear that will continue throughout the rest of the film. 

In the present, we meet Jade as she's given a hard drive by a friend from her gang days, which immediately results in a shoot out and Jade having to run for her life. Barely a few minutes into the film and our heroine is already running around, trying to avoid the gangsters on her trail. This kind of pacing is indicative of the movie, and it goes from action piece to action piece very quickly, with brief moments of story and character scattered between them. It turns out that local gangster, Tork (Mickey Rourke) is after the hard drive, and is willing to kill Jade to get it. All Jade wants to do is to make it through the night, and to protect Layla (Katherine McNamara), the pregnant girlfriend of her dead brother. 

As an action fan, I was looking forward to seeing what Bamford put onto the screen, but one of the biggest issues I had with Jade is that it doesn't seem to know what kind of tone it's aiming for. There are times where the film is brutal and bloody, yet others where it's almost comedic. At one point in the film Jade throws her afro comb, which impales a man through the eye. I'm no expert on afro combs, but it looked very plastic on screen, so it being able to pierce the skull seemed a bit too much for me. But this is something that Jade does a lot, where the film seems to prioritise style over substance. We get a kill count on the screen, blood splashes and the word Fatality on the wall during one kill (with voice over announcement).

The dialogue seems to play out the same way, with characters trying to compete with each other for who can say the wittiest one liner, leading to most of the people in the film feeling like flat caricatures and ill thought out stand-ins for real people. Whilst West does have a lot of charm to her, and delivers some of these cheesy moments with a flair she seems to be the only person in the film who actually wants to put any real effort in. Mickey Rourke delivers his lines like he's bored, and his expression barely changes from blank throughout the film. There are some decent actors amongst the cast, so I don't know if it's a case of them not having the right material to work with, or simply not wanting to be there, but West often feels like the only actor who's actually invested. 

But, this is an action film, so there's never a guarantee that the the acting is what's being focused on. The action is a big part of things, and whilst the action does take centre stage in Jade it too varies in quality a lot. There are some parts of the action where Bamford lets the camera hang back a little, giving West the chance to really show off her combat skills. These are the best parts of the film, as the audience get to see that it's really her performing, and that she can do longer takes without making mistakes or looking bad. However, there are times when Bamford throws unneeded cuts, jumps, close-ups, slow motion, and other editing tricks into the action that really breaks the flow and makes it feel less impactful. The use of CGI for muzzle flashes and blood splatter also made the film look and feel cheap in places. Digital bullet impacts were happening around West, but after the initial impact the environment was left untouched and intact, showing that no bullets were actually being fired at her. Practical effects would have gone a long way to making things feel real, and would have helped prevent a lot of the sense of falseness that movie had. 

As a showcase reel for Shaina West Jade is great, it showcases her physical abilities and her stunt work well, and there are even hints of someone able to step more into the spotlight too. But, as an entertaining piece of film Jade just kept falling short for me. It's not a long film, sitting at 88 minutes, but I kept checking my watch to see how long it had been going for. I was left bored more times than not, and an action film should be doing the exact opposite to that. I wanted to like this film, I wanted to love this film; it has so many names attached to it that I like, yet it failed to entertain me. Perhaps it was me, maybe I just didn't click with it, but sadly Jade ended up being a movie that I just can't recommend. 

Jade is released digitally on 24th June 2024.

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The Exorcism - Film Review

 

The Exorcist was a film that redefined the horror genre, and sparked a whole slew of exorcism themed movies that still exist to this day. It's impact was so felt that any movie released even fifty years later that touches upon exorcisms and demonic possession will invariably be compared to; hell, it's the first thing I've spoken about here. The Exorcism, Russell Crowe's second exorcist movie in a year, This time however, he's not actually playing a priest, he's playing a man playing a priest in a film.

The Exorcism opens with a monologue about how a man has lost his faith, a speech which very quickly proves to be lacking any real conviction, as we see a man reading from a script. Stepping out of a car, he walks up to a house, whilst reading lines and stage directions from the script in his hand, and enters the home. Walking through the house, he ascends the floors until he reaches the third floor bedroom. At this point the camera pulls back to reveal a life sized doll house in one of the more interesting shots in the film. Our film as begun within the soundstage of a movie, and we're following an actor as he practices for his role as a priest called in to exorcise a teenage girl. However, some unseen force quickly dispatches him, leaving his role open for a recast.

From here we meet Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe) and his teenage daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins). Anthony is a washed up actor, a man who lost it all after his wife died of cancer and he retreated into drink and drug addiction. With his career and reputation all but ruined, he's trying to find a way to claw it back, whilst also doing his best to repair his strained relationship with Lee. This sees Anthony audition for the role of Father Anthony on 'The Georgetown Project', a movie clearly influenced by, or possibly being a remake of, The Exorcist.  Fighting through a tough audition that sees director Peter (Adam Goldberg) getting Anthony to push deep and draw upon his own history of trauma, Anthony gets the part that he hopes will reignite his career. However, not long after getting the role Anthony starts to undergo a change, one that Lee thinks may be more than a slip back into addiction, and may involve otherworldly forces.

There's a lot to The Exorcism to like, but there's also an equal amount of the film that feels somewhat frustrating as it never fully explores or commits to most of the ideas it presents. The first of these is the film within the film. I loved the meta angle of The Exorcism, and the exploration of the making of the movie. The film makes mention of how some movies in the genre have had troubled productions in the past, the idea that they attract bad things to it. This feels like a clear reference to the original Exorcist, and is a perfect cover for the people working on The Georgetown Project to dismiss the paranormal incidents, or to lean into their belief that dark forces are at work. The fact that we also see special effects artists making an animatronic head that can spin around, and the basic plot seeming to mirror The Exorcist makes it feel like this is a film about a remake movie. However, it's never outright said that that's what we're seeing. It's likely a rights issue, but the failure to commit fully to it does feel like a wrinkle in the narrative.

This is something that I felt throughout the film, a failure to fully invest in the ideas that are presented. Anthony is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, and this has damaged his relationship with his daughter. This addiction is used throughout the movie, as Anthony begins drinking again. But we're not shown his fall back into addiction, we just have other characters talking about how he's drunk, then we see him downing a bottle of whiskey. The moment of his relapse, of this man desperate to put his life back together and failing is an important one, but we don't get it. 

Similarly, there's mention of childhood trauma around the church, with Peter making the implication that Anthony was abused by a priest. This seems to be a root cause of a lot of issues for him in the film, especially in playing a priest, yet we never really explore this past. There are flashbacks scattered throughout the film that hint that perhaps the abuse was less sexual in nature, and some kind of dark, satanic type incident, which opens a whole load of questions about his possession here and if the seeds were laid for it decades before. But again, the film doesn't explore this angle. Both Anthony's alcoholism and his childhood abuse are huge parts of the story, but neither of them feel like they're given the appropriate time or space to really matter.

Despite this, Crowe seems to do his best to deliver a layered performance to his character, and the earlier moments in the film where he's back drinking, sleepwalking around his apartment, and speaking in bizarre, broken Latin are great as you question whether or not this is the sign of the supernatural, or the mental breakdown of an incredibly broken and traumatised man. If it wasn't for the opening scene involving a clearly otherworldly force you could very much go through a lot of the film wondering if it was going to be a real possession or not.

Ryan Simpkins, the film's secondary protagonist, manages to match Crowe's performance well, shifting from the indignant, rebellious daughter to a more caring role as she witnesses her fathers deterioration. She's the only person who seems to care for him, with others relegating him to the 'pathetic drunk' category. Simpkins, however, pushes the narrative forwards, and tries to do what she can to help Anthony. She gets help from The Georgetown Project's young star, Blake Holloway (Chloe Bailey), with whom a strong relationship begins to form, and the movie's religious advisor, Father Conor (David Hype Pierce), who comes to believe that a true evil is taking over Anthony. 

Despite the decent performances the film failed to really grab my attention. The plot felt mostly predictable, with the expected journey playing out without much depth or even any innovation. The film felt lacking for most of it's runtime, even if I couldn't really place my finger on what. Perhaps the film would have been more interesting if it explored the film within a film more, or if it showed more of Anthony's journey, or if it gave more definitive answers. As it is, The Exorcism feels like it's trying to do several things at the same time, and as such doesn't have the time to fully commit to any of them. Shallow would perhaps be the best word to describe it.

Whilst there's nothing obviously bad about the film that makes it unworthy of a higher score there's nothing about it that stands out as particularly memorable and I honestly can't see myself thinking about this film at all in the future; except perhaps the occasional memory of Niles Crane trying to get a demon out of Russell Crowe whenever my mind goes to Frasier. The Exorcism has some interesting ideas, but don't expect them to really pay any of them off. Not a bad way to spend an hour and half, but there are much better ones too. 

The Exorcism is released in cinemas 21st June 2024.

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The Sacrament - Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

 

The found footage genre comes with a number of expectations thanks to most of them falling into certain tropes, the chief of these being a group of people grabbing a camera they don't really know how to use in order to capture some kind of paranormal event on film. However, there is one other style that often gets notice even though it's not used very often, the documentary style. The Sacrament, written and directed by Ti West, fits nicely into that subgenre, and presents a very realistic and grounded horror story that will get under your skin more than any film about ghosts and monsters can.

The Sacrament tells the story of a trio of journalists, fashion photographer Patrick (Kentucker Audley), Vice reporter Sam (A.J. Bowen), and cameraman Jake (Joe Swanberg), who start looking into a mysterious commune deep in the jungles of South America called Eden Parish. The group comes to their attention after Patrick receives a letter from his sister, Caroline (Amy Seimetz), who has been off the radar for a time whilst dealing with her drug addiction. Wanting to learn more about this remote community, and to check in on Caroline, the three of them decide to travel there and document the journey.

Arriving at the remote location, accessible only by helicopter, they find armed guards protecting the newly constructed commune. Allowed inside, the trio begin to learn more about Eden Parish, talking to others who have given up their worldly possessions to move across the world to live there in peace and harmony, away from the temptations and evils of the outside world. It's all hailed as the work of a man known only as Father (Gene Jones), a charismatic figure who brought them all together, and leads them in their religious ways. As the reporters learn more about Father and this community it becomes clear that there's something more sinister at work, and when some of the residents of Eden Parish come to them for help it sparks a series of events that leads to terrifying results. 

If, like myself, you know a little about true crime and cults the inspiration for The Sacrament will jump out of the screen at you barely ten minutes into the movie. As soon as our protagonists began to describe Eden Parish I was getting distinct Jonestown vibes, and seeing it, deep in the rainforest with its wooden buildings and large open fields, only cemented that feeling. And as soon as you're aware that this is where the director has drawn inspiration you're waiting for things to go bad. The film doesn't have jump scares, it doesn't have frightening things on screen for the vast majority of its run time, because it doesn't need to. Instead, it slowly builds dread as you learn more and more about this brainwashed community, revealing small hints at the darkness hiding beneath the surface.

The movie is genuinely one of the most tense I've watched in a long while, and the feeling never really leaves. It's built up well, and like the characters in the film there's nothing you can openly point to as a clear sign of something bad, but you know it is. The way that the supporting cast talk about their community, and Father, is unsettling, even though you can't argue against them. And this is where Gene Jones comes into play wonderfully. The first time we meet Father is during a community gathering where he comes out to answer questions for the reporters. Jones has incredible charisma in this scene, and his answers are all well thought out, and sound well meaning. It's hard to argue against him, he sounds reasonable and caring, and it really hammers home how easily the people who create these kinds of cults in the real world are able to do so. 

With the inspiration for the film pretty clear, the destination is extremely obvious, and I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say things go horribly wrong in Eden Parish. The scenes of Father instructing his followers to willingly take their lives are some of the most harrowing I've ever seen on film. There's nothing obviously violent here, people are just taking a drink, but the level of tension involved, the way the extras play it, and the ever mounting dread make it a shocking things to watch. The fact that you see parents and caregivers feeding poison to children and babies makes your stomach drop. Perhaps it's because I knew about Jonestown, that I knew this was basically what happened in real life, but the reality of this moment made it all the more horrific; this isn't just something that could happen in real life, it already had.

The latter portion of the film manages to be more horrific than you first expect, and the quietly chilling scenes of people drinking poison are only the opening act in a conclusion that had me holding my breath more than once. It left me feeling shaken, and may be one of the more affecting horror film endings that I can think of. The fact that the film has been shot and presented in a documentary style absolutely helps with this, and whilst the film would still work fantastically as a regularly shot movie the first person camera style drops you square into events and makes them hit all the harder as you feel less like an outside observer and more of an active participant. 

Whilst the core cast of characters do well, and the three journalists are great in their roles, it's the members of Eden Parish that really shine. Amy Seimetz is fantastic as Caroline, a young woman who presents perfectly reasonably to begin with, someone who's battled addiction to put their life together again; but as the film progresses we see a more manic, fervent side to her, a craziness that reveals a chilling side to her that was hidden the whole time. The turn is fantastic, and hers is perhaps the most fear inducing performance in the film. Gene Jones, on the other hand, frightens in other ways. He never loses his cool, he never stops sounding caring, and it's this that makes him frightening. You can believe that he could convince people to follow him into the jungle, to give up everything, and even take their own lives. He presents the best depiction of a cult leader I've ever seen, and every scene he was in he stole from everyone else.

Whilst the film itself is exceptional, the rest of the new Blu-ray presentation packs in a decent amount of behind the scenes features. The disc comes with four new interviews with the main cast of the film. These range in time from ten minutes to around thirty minutes, and offer some extra insight into the film. The interviews cover how the actors came to be in the film, what it was like to make, and the impact that it had on their careers. Jones in particular stands out, especially when he speaks with such love for how the movie affected his career. There is also an interview with producer Peter Phok, who covers his career and work with Ti West outside of The Sacrament as well. There's an hour long making of that has some behind the scenes footage and interviews. And there's a video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who looks at the found footage genre and how The Sacrament plays into it. The only thing that really feels like it's missing from the disc are interviews with Ti West himself (which is not always possible with working directors and their busy schedule), and a commentary track. Whilst the commentary in particular would have been nice to have, and is usually include in Second Sight releases, it's absence is far from a deal breaker. 

Having never heard of The Sacrament before watching it I was shocked by how hard hitting a film this was. Forgoing many of the tropes of the found footage genre, of ignoring dark, spooky locations, and basing itself squarely in reality, the film already feels like it's setting itself apart. However, when you include the very realistic, very disturbing content and the frankly phenomenal performances, I'm shocked and appalled that it's not a film I'd heard of before. The Sacrament very much deserves to be on lists of top horror films, and if like me it's one that you've never stumbled across before this new Limited Edition release is the perfect way to discover it. 

The Sacrament is released on Blu-ray and Limited Edition Blu-ray on 24th June 2024 from Second Sight.

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The Valiant Red Peony: Red Peony Gambler 1–3 - Blu-ray Review

 

Whilst films from the US have struggled to really centre a female action lead Japan has been comfortable letting female protagonists take the centre stage for a while, and the Valiant Red Peony film series from the late 1960's and early 1970's showcases this well. Collecting together the first three films in the eight film series, Eureka Entertainment has given modern audiences a chance to discover these classic female led action films.

The series follows Oryū ​​Hibotan, played across all eight films by Junko Fuji, a young woman who finds her life thrown upside down when her father, a Yakuza boss, is murdered. Despite her father wanting Oryū to get away from the family business his death ends up dragging her into a world of murder and revenge. Oryū vows to 'be a man', seeking our revenge and taking on the name Red Peony after the tattoo on her shoulder. Becoming a wandering Yakuza, the series follows Oryū from one adventure to another.

The first of the films charts her origins as the Red Peony, going after the people who murdered her father with the aid of a fellow wandering Yakuza named Katagiri Naoji (Ken Takakura). The second film sees Oryū getting involved with a gang trying to take over the silk trade in the area as they put the local villagers through hell; becoming the hero the village needs, she sets out to make things right for them. The third and final film in this sets sees Oryū on the trail of another female warrior, one who has been claiming to be her. Trying to repair her tarnished reputation, she discovers a pair of star-crossed lovers being used as pawns by rival gangs, and must try to broker a peace between the warring groups. 

Having never heard of the Red Peony Gambler series before this set was announced I was interested to discover another lengthy Japanese film series. Having recently watched the first three films in the Abashira Prison series I was interested to see another crime series from the same era, though one with a completely different tone to that one. Set during the Meiji era, the series is historical, and as such every location and set is something made to be on the screen, and the films look fantastic because of this. The films are visually stunning, and whilst each of the three directors for these films have their own particular styles and signatures they all work together well, and create a visually interesting trio of films. 

Junko Fuji is the biggest draw to these films however, and the actress is hugely impressive here. She plays Oryū as a somewhat aloof character at times. She's hard to read, with little to no emotion on her face for the most part, a trait that a wandering gambler would need. However, there are other times when you can see the emotions peeking through, where her stoic mask begins to crack and you can see the pain and depth of emotions underneath. Fuji is phenomenal in these three movies, and it's easy to see how she was able to headline a series of eight films. She's beautiful and talented in equal measure, and there are a number of scenes here that prove she has the chops to be both a brutal action star and the headliner for more serious movies. It's a shame that this series ended with her retirement from acting, as you can really see that she'd go on to become one of the best actresses in Japan if she'd have continued on; and that it's like this series would have had a lot more than eight films. 

The new release from Eureka offers new audio commentary tracks on each of the films with film experts and historians that offer unique insight into the films and their place in Japanese film history. Each of them prove to be interesting, and it's clear that the people involved, Chris Poggiali, Mike Leeder, Arne Venema, and Tom Mes, are all knowledgeable on the subject. There's also a brand new interview with Asian film expert Tony Rayns, who talks about the films in a general sense, as well as going into further detail on the third films director Tai Kato. There is also the accompanying booklet, which features some informative new writing.

Overall, this is a very fine set that can either be a fantastic introduction to this series for new fans like myself, or a great way of watching a trio of old favourites. The set makes a great addition to any Asian film collection, and will hopefully be the first of the series released as there are still five more movies to go. 

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Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum - Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

 

I've been a fan of horror my entire life, and have enjoyed finding new horror films to seek out, a search that has led me to some wonderful gems that don't get enough attention. One film that I had heard recommended over and over again was Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum. However, I was never able to find a copy of it. It seemed like DVD's of the film were few and far between, and whenever I thought to look for it it was never available on streaming. It became a film that I desperately wanted to watch but never could. However, with their new Blu-ray release Second Sight have given me the opportunity to finally see it, and even with all of the hype and whispers I've heard about it over the years it still managed to exceed my expectations to become one of my new favourite horror films.

The film follows a group of online ghost hunters, Horror Times, as they plan to live stream an investigation into the abandoned Gonjiam mental asylum. The asylum is on their radar since featuring on a list of most haunted places in the world (something taken from real life), and some footage of schoolkids trying to get into a locked room within the hospital went viral. Hoping to make millions off the sponsorship deal if they're able to get a million viewers at the same time, the people at Horror Times recruit some volunteers to head into the hospital with them. 

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is a found footage horror movie, a sub genre that is often immediately written off as being bad. Whether it's the fact that there was a huge boom in the style in the 2000's following the success of films such as Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project thanks to the affordability of better personal camera equipment, or that many of the films in the genre emulated each other, the found footage genre seems to be one of the most hated. However, I think it can also be one of the more creative, especially when the filmmakers are trying to say something. Gonjiam does try to do things a little different, and is one of the first found footage films to move away from the guy with his home camcorder trying to capture ghosts approach and instead moves towards a critique of the internet ghost hunting boom.

Entertainment has changed with the creation and increasing popularity of YouTube, and it has become one of the chief sources for video entertainment in the modern age, with certain YouTubers having becomes incredibly rich and receiving celebrity status. It's a place where the ghost hunting shows have made great headway, with multiple channels engaging in both personal ghost hunts, and clip compilations of paranormal footage. This is what Gonjiam uses as it's basis for the film, as its main cast are either YouTubers, or people brought in to take part in a livestream. This isn't just used as the framing for the movie though, and it's also used as a justification for things continuing on where normally you'd run screaming. The people involved want to make money, they're convinced to keep going with the promise of fame and fortune, and they keep filming because they're literally strapped into a camera rig and can't drop their camera. It's a great justification that sidesteps a lot of the criticisms of the found footage genre well.

The first part of the film follows this group of characters as they get to know each other, travelling through the country to reach the Gonjiam asylum. Some of the characters come across as honest, whilst others already seem to be acting up for the cameras, putting on a false persona for their viewers. This is something that follows across into the actual investigation when it becomes apparent that the people at Horror Times are faking the paranormal encounters in order to drive up viewership and make more money. It feels very much like Jung Bum-shik, the writer and director, is taking shots at the kind of content creators who produce over-the-top entertainment for engagement and money, rather than trying to make a true and honest piece of art. 

However, this is a horror film, so of course the fake paranormal encounters are just the prelude to the true horrors that await within the walls of Gonjiam. The film does this well, making you believe that the fake encounters are real for a while, before revealing to the audience that some of the characters are being tricked. When it becomes apparent, however, that not everything you're seeing is staged it makes the creepiness from earlier in the film hit a lot harder. The reveals in Gonjiam are incredibly well done, and there are multiple moments where you can feel your stomach suddenly drop as you realise you've seen something truly horrifying. 

If there's other found footage films that I can compare Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum to it would be As Above, So Below and Grave Encounters. Both of these films begin fairly normally, and very quickly descend into a form of cosmic horror. Things don't make sense, reality warps, and you soon realise that even if the protagonists wanted to run away and get away from the horrors they literally can't. Gonjiam is like this, it subverts expectations and bends the rules in order to keep the horror going. Unlike Grave Encounters though, which is also set in a long abandoned mental hospital, Gonjiam doesn't try to explain itself. There's no final act reveal that the hospital staff were engaging in black magic or anything as silly as that. Instead, the horror just happens with no rhyme or reason and you're left to grapple with it all by yourself, further adding to the unease and wrongness of it all.

I'm trying to avoid talking about the actual plot or the types of scares in the film as this is very much a movie where the less you know about it before going into it the better. All I knew was that it was set in an asylum and was found footage, and because of that I had an absolute blast with the movie. Every twist and turn in the story, every jump scare, every long, tense scene that didn't follow the rules, and every horrific entity that we encountered just kept ratcheting up the tension. The film sits at a decent 91 minutes in length, which is about average for this kind of film, but by the time the end comes it feels like it's barely begun. The film has such a great pace to it, with a story that draws you in so much that by the time it comes to an end you'll be upset that there wasn't more to the film to keep you in longer.

However, that's where Second Sight has us covered quite nicely. Alongside the film the new set comes with a brand new audio commentary by Mary Beth McAndrews and Terry Mesnard, horror experts and hosts of the Scarred For Life podcast that's very engaging and almost relaxing to listen two as the two hosts engage in a comfortable banter. There's also a new video essay by horror journalist Zoë Rose Smith who goes into haunted house movies and their appeal, alongside several older featurettes that have been on previous releases. These older releases delve into the making of the movie a lot more, chatting with the cast and their experiences as actors, as well as going into the technical challenges the movie faced with some key members of the crew.

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum might not be the most original horror film ever made, and whilst it's one of the first to explore the online streaming side of found footage much of the plot and scares are the kind of thing you'll have seen in other releases. However, the way that it's all put together and the execution make it one of the most entertaining, and frightening, horror films I've seen from the last ten years. The film did exceptionally well in South Korea, and it's not hard to see why. This is absolutely going to be a film that I'm going to watch several more times, and will be recommending to any horror fan.

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum Blu-ray and Limited Edition Blu-ray are released on 24th June 2024 from Second Sight.

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The G - Film Review

 

There are some very messed up laws in the world, this is nothing that is news to any of us. However, some laws that a lot of people will be unaware about are those in the US that grant someone guardianship over another. Perhaps the most famous was the conservatorship of Britney Spears, but it's more often than not something that affects the elderly in the States. Nichelle Nichols, best known for playing Uhura in Star Trek is under such a law, and people have been campaigning to free her from it for years now as it's believed those around her are abusing her financially. Sadly, her story is far from the only one, and it's something that has, and continues to, affect a great many number of people. This is the basic premise of the new film The G, which sees an elderly couple placed under the guardianship of some shady criminals who want nothing more than to get their money and assets. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong woman to mess with. 

Opening with a scene of two men in digging a hole in the middle of some wasteland during the cold winter, we see that they're burying an old man in an unmarked grave. Already a grizzly sight in itself, things become even more horrifying when we see that the man is still alive whilst they're doing it. This scene sets the tone for The G early on, and the terrifying grimness of that moment compels the viewer to keep on watching, even if only to see them men performing such a heinous act be brought to some form of justice.

From here we meet Anna Hunter (Dale Dickey), a grouchy and vicious elderly woman affectionately named The G by her granddaughter Emma (Romane Denis). Anna is a fiercely independent woman, one who doesn't take crap from anyone and will call any who try every swearword under the sun. However, her health is failing, and her sick husband relies on her to take care of him. Despite trying her best, things are not going perfectly for the couple. This brings them into the attention of a group of criminals. This group, who have doctors and judges working with them, find elderly people that they think have money, and have them signed into a guardianship without their knowledge. These guardians then ship them into a prison-like facility, selling off their homes and taking possession of their bank accounts.

Despite how cruel and despicable this is, it's perfectly legal, and as such Anna finds herself at the mercy of these men, men who are happy to beat her husband in front of her to try and get more money out of the two of them. Thus begins a story that sees Emma trying to find a way to get her grandmother out of the facility she's being held in, whilst Anna reaches out to some old, powerful, and violent family connections she has back home in Texas.

Dale Dickey takes the centre stage in The G, and is an actress that I think a lot of people will recognise for small parts in various projects over the years, such as Fallout, Breaking Bad, and True Blood. Dickey has been in a lot of things, bit always seems to be in supporting roles. The G, however, gives her the chance to shine as the worlds most unexpected grandmother. Hard drinking and hard swearing, Dickey is less grandmother and more enforcer for much of the film, and apart from one particular scene in which she lets her walls down is stoic and hard for the entire thing. It's a hell of a performance, especially in the moments where you see that mask slip and there's a softer woman underneath. There's a genuine sense of menace to her, and when the time comes for Anna to strike back against the people hurting her it's absolutely believable that this woman in her 70's is capable of it. 

Romane Denis leads the movie whenever Dickey isn't on screen, and has a hard act to follow, standing in the shadow of Anna's larger than life character. This is something that her character Emma has to contend with in the film too, as she tries to emulate The G and be more like her, more ruthless and brave, in order to make it through. Whilst Emma doesn't succeed in being like her grandmother Denis does bring a lot of emotional depth to the character, having her barely holding together in moments of extreme stress, showing the fear hiding just beneath the surface as she wades into a world of criminals and murder. 

The plot for The G feels both incredibly unbelievable, and totally real at the same time, and you find yourself wondering if it could actually be possible for such criminal conservatorship rings to exist. It makes the movie incredibly dark and depressing at times, and when we spend time within the facility the criminals are keeping their wards hostage in it makes your gut churn. The scenes of elderly people tied to their beds, covered in wounds are some of the most harrowing in the film, and as a result you're desperately waiting for the bad guys to get what's coming to them. And when it comes at the hand of an angry old woman willing to kill it's oh so sweet. There has been an increase in films with aging male action heroes over recent years, but it's about time a female hero took centre stage like this.

The G is released in cinemas 21st June 2024. 

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You're All Gonna Die - Film Review

 

Horror can be a tough genre to crack, hence the prevalence of 'b-movies', films that attempt horror but come off as cheap and dull because somewhere along the way the people making it have forgotten to actually make it frightening in any way. Unfortunately, You're All Gonna Die is one of these kinds of films, a film that has flat and lifeless characters, a dull and predictable plot, no tension or visual flair, and terrible sound design throughout. 

The film opens with a woman being chased down by tow truck in the middle of the desert, a chase that results in her gruesome death. Jumping forward in time, we learn that the man the police believe to be responsible has been arrested, and is sitting on death row. A group of young investigators who work for a group that finds evidence to help falsely imprisoned people, believes that he's another case of a forced confession, and that the real killer is still out there. 

The five of them head out into the desert to try and find some kind of proof that the man didn't do it, and start checking through an old, abandoned camp site in the middle of nowhere. Of course, however, the real killer is there, waiting for them, and sets out to kill them all one by one. 

The first real hurdle for You're All Gonna Die is the basic premise of the plot. It's never made clear what this group is hoping to find in the middle of the desert that would prove a man didn't commit several murders, and there's no explanation given for why the killer is there. Later on in the movie we see that the killer lives far away from the camp site, so it's not like they stumbled into his lair, and instead he just happened to be out there. Was he waiting for them intent on killing them, or did he just stumble across them and decide to make them his victims? It's not explained. Neither is him going from hunting down lone women to taking on a group of people. It's all a bit barebones.

It doesn't help that when all of the killing kicks off it's the middle of the day. Visual atmosphere is a big part of horror, and a film need to make you feel on edge. Having the audience checking every shadow and dark space, looking for the killer as he sneaks around is a good way of getting the viewer involved. Having a killer just walking straight towards his victims through a sparse desert environment in bright daylight produces no tension, and comes across as fairly dull and lacklustre, especially as it means when characters vanish suddenly, or fail to notice something it raises questions of how.

Visually, the film struggles with its gore too. There is almost no physical gore effects used in the film, other than the occasional bloodstain or splatter on an actors face or clothing. When the kills come it's done using CGI, and not very great CGI at that either. One character is gutted, and the blood that drips down the side of her body looks static and fake, and you can see that it doesn't completely cover everything and join up with the wound site in one moment too. Another character has their head bashed with a hammer, and we get a rather comical dent in their head that breaks any kind of meagre tension there was in the moment. Muzzle flashes on guns, and people being shot, are all added via CGI as well, and as such the violence has no reality or weight behind it.

Sound is another issue that You're All Gonna Die struggles with. The volume of the voices, music, and background effects varies from scene to scene. There are some parts of the movie where it's almost impossible to make out what characters are saying as their voices drop to little more than muffled background noise as the music swells to dominate the scene. It feels like there are a few moments in the film where someone mixed up their settings for the sound levels, and no one bothered to check through it. These moments are so noticeable and so jarring it makes you think that there has been no quality control for the film at all, or that no one cared enough to go back and fix things. 

The acting is the only saving grace for the film, even if that also has harsh drops in quality from character to character. The main group of young people feel less like people and more like approximations of how an older person thinks a younger generation focused on justice and fairness would talk. Dialogue is stilted, and the delivery on a lot of the lines comes across like even the actors didn't want to say them. The older cast are by far the better ones, but unfortunately their screen time is quite limited. Lori Petty, best known for her roles in films like Tank Girl, Free Willy, and Point Break, is enough to save the film, even if her scenes are the best ones. 

I've always been a fan of what some people wild describe as 'bad' movies, the kind of films that some people would look down on for being popcorn entertainment with no real substance. A lot of the time these low budget, shakyily made films still contain a lot of passion, and some moments of real quality to be found. Unfortunately, You're All Gonna Die isn't one of these films. It's dull, uninspired, and left me bored throughout. By all means, try it yourself, but it's not one that I can recommend. 

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Arcadian - Film Reivew

 

The end of the world is story that fiction keeps coming back to, especially in our modern age. Perhaps it's because of the way humanity has already irrevocably damaged our world, and with the end of humanity very likely on the horizon, but more and more fiction is exploring the idea of what might come after the end of our society. Arcadian is the latest film to enter this genre, and whilst it doesn't give away too many answers it absolutely does draw you in to a world that you're going to want to know more about. 

The film begins closer to the end of the world, as our lead character, Paul (Nicolas Cage), scavenges inside a city that's in the middle of a collapse. Sirens blare in the background, and you can hear distant screams and gunfire as Paul makes his way through the streets and alleys, trying to avoid notice. Escaping the unnamed city, he watches it burn in the distance, before returning to the ruined building here he left his two infant sons. 

From here, we jump forward fifteen years, to a time where Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins) have grown up into smart, resourceful teens who live in a remote farm house with their father. They spend their days scavenging for supplies, fixing things up around the farm, and doing their best to keep going, whilst at night they lock the house down, barring the doors and windows as creatures from nightmares go on the prowl. Something has happened since the end of the world, and now humanity isn't on top of the food chain. As the three of them try to live their lives, cracks begin to form between the brothers thanks to Thomas' new obsession with Rose (Sadie Soverall), a young girl who lives on the neighbouring farm, a young love that sees Thomas neglect his duties, drawing his family into danger. 

One of the things that I liked about Arcadian was that after a brief introduction, which gives away nothing as to why the world has ended, we're dropped into life after the apocalypse and have to keep up. We see the family rushing home as the sun goes down, locking all of the door and windows and boarding them up, but we're not told why. The first time something tries to get into the house the family talk about it as an unexpected, but not completely new occurrence, but we're not told what's outside. The characters have more information than we do, and they're treating the unusual and the frightening as commonplace, leaving the audience in the dark and creating mystery.

Whilst some of this mystery is revealed later on, with the creatures that were trying to get in being revealed in a pair of truly frightening and surprising scenes, we don't really get much of an explanation. And that's a good thing. The characters don't really know how the world ended, they don't really know what these monsters are, and so we don't get that information either. There is a moment where a child-like game posits a couple of possible explanations for the end of the world, but these are just wild theories with no evidence to back it up. Compared to many other films in the post-apocalypse genre it's a refreshing change to not be told why. It feels more realistic, as if the end of the world came and you somehow made it through you could very well have little to no information about it. It heightens the mystery of the world, and makes it a lot more frightening too. 

And whilst the film is frightening, it doesn't revel in the horror or push it to the forefront of the film. Instead, the family story takes centre stage instead. Cage is well cast as the boys father, and manages to combine together moments of deep caring with those of desperation. He's a man whose children are quite literally his entire world, who he'd do anything for, and he's watching them grow up into young men. The way he quietly watches the two brothers interact, their very distinct personalities playing off each other is lovely to see, and there's a definite sense of sadness to him in some scenes as he considers the fact that Thomas wants more than just the three of them, as his first brush with love starts to take him away from the family home.

The two brothers, however, are the main focus of the film, and Jaeden Martell and Maxwell Jenkins are the centre of most of the films scenes. The film is pretty much told through their eyes, with one or both of them in almost every scene of the movie. Martell plays Joseph as a very quiet young man, one who often gets lost in his own thoughts. He's the more learned of the two, happy to get lost in books, and uses his intelligence to try and craft the three of them a better, safer existence. Thomas is a stark contrast to this. He's more brash, and often times more selfish. He puts himself and his wants first, and it's this that leads the family into trouble in big ways. Despite this, you don't come to hate Thomas, even if there are times you can find him quite frustrating and even foolish. Rounding out the cast is Sadie Soverall, who doesn't get as many scenes, but brings a great energy into the family dynamic and ends up playing a bigger part than expected towards the latter half of the film. 

I won't talk much about the monsters of the movie, as they're best discovered as the film goes on. What I will say, however, is that their slow introduction is done well, and their presence is felt long before you final get your first glimpse of one; and when you do finally see one it makes for the kind of moment that will have you yelling at your screen. Their designs are very interesting, and the more you see them the more you realise there's more to them than your first impression would have you believe. They're monstrous, yet fascinating in a way that most movie monsters aren't, and whilst there are moments they look more unusual than frightening they're always threatening. 

Arcadian isn't a very long film, sitting at just 90 minutes, and it uses it's time well, balancing the more mundane and human aspects of the post-apocalypse with scenes of horror. I would have liked to have spend more time in this world and with these characters, and would have happily enjoyed a film that was closer to the two hour mark. It's a world that I wanted to know more about, and wished we could have explored more of outside of the quiet countryside where our characters had sought refuge. As it is, this is a well paced movie that doesn't overstay its welcome, leaves you wanting more, and could even kick off a whole new film universe if the creatives behind it wanted to go further; and that's a rare and wonderful thing to find in an age of horror films that don't feel like they're putting a whole lot of effort in.

Arcadian is released in cinemas 14th June 2024.

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