Dear friend,
assume here there was here an introduction about the status of social media. But I would waste your time complaining about how easy it is to be negative about anything, while at the same time being negative.
Let’s move on to the escapist part. At least this week there are a few good films to talk about.
Resolution, directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, written by Justin Benson, US, 2012 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (down from ⭐⭐⭐⭐½)
Last week’s appearance of Benson and Moorhead as producers of Man Finds Tape made me want to revisit their first film.
The week-spanning story of Mike (Peter Cilella) trying to help his friend Chris (Vinny Curran who, sorry, will always be American Lello Arena to me) give up his drug addiction through quite drastic measures is, honestly, quite compelling in itself, thanks to an amazing chemistry between the two leads, which completely sells the film as a drama (with a supporting role from the always welcome Zahn McClarnon, and a fun cameo by the young directors).
But the rehab plot was not exactly what I was there for, and I was almost disappointed by the limited space given to the cosmic aspects: my fault, or, better, my memory’s fault, probably mixing it with another ‘cabin in the woods’ film from the same year.
Nevertheless, any momentary disappointment and the confusion triggered by the last line of dialogue dissipated after reflecting on the whole story for a while, and how the film invites us, as horror film lovers, to take some part of responsibility.
Jigsaw, directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, US, 2017 - ⭐⭐½ (down from ⭐⭐⭐½)
I have pointed out in previous weeks some literary references that may have inspired Saw traps, but I didn’t expect to see Jean-Paul Sartre named (at least, on the web; I haven’t checked the actual film credits) as a co-author of the eighth film of the series. Apparently, it is because of marked similarities between some character details and his play Huis clos/No Exit.
But the core plot remains the same: there are murders and the police are investigating, John Kramer has been dead for sequels, and people are trapped and challenged without realising they would be better off collaborating rather than working against each other (like in the one with Julie Benz).
There is an additional layer of characters and events that made me consider at some point that both the story and the filmmaking (by newcomers to the saga, Predestination’s authors The Spierig Brothers) were a marked improvement compared to the last four episodes.
But this was before the resolution, which is just unbelievable even by Saw standards and brings the whole endeavour down quite a lot.
Evil Dead Burn, directed by Sébastien Vaniček, co-written with Florent Bernard, US, 2026 - ⭐⭐⭐½
‘In-laws’. Take Ready or Not, remove all the fun from it, replace it with Newer-French-Extremity nastiness, add all the usual Necronomicon stuff and there you are, burn baby burn.
The creative team behind Vermines/Infested (which I haven’t seen) does a great job at unrelentingly making you wince and sometimes want to avert your eyes from the screen with Bring Her Back intensity.
What it could have done better is the character work: the father-in-law is insufferably nasty long before anything supernatural happens (I understand, he’s supposed to be the role model for his son), the grandmother is an easy target for comic relief.
The ending goes on a bit too long, but I guess it’s necessary to give closure to the ‘abusive spouse’ theme.
And I know I’m being unnecessarily critical of details, but an ADR line made me cringe much more than any open dishwasher in the film.
Despite all of this, I overall liked it: final girl Souheila Yacoub (from Gaspar Noé’s Climax) is great, the direction is interesting (if you want to win me over, put a skilfully crafted long take in your film), the horror is effective, and there is even a vocal cameo by Alain Chabat.
I didn’t expect this to have any narrative link to my beloved Evil Dead Rise, but I was happy that the whole cold open brought us back to that lake and let Jessica scare us to death.
As I write, I’m also finding out I’ve missed the post-credit scene, also linking back to Lee Cronin’s film.
The Evil Dead, written and directed by Sam Raimi, US, 1981 - ⭐⭐⭐ (up from ⭐⭐½)
After listening to Mark Kermode’s scathing review of Burn, I had to go back to the first film, to doublecheck whether it really is so marvellous and funny and scary.
As you can see, I wasn’t convinced the first time around, and this time I appreciate a bit more what was done with no budget (a bit like for Resolution), although the stupid tree sequence is still there and it all gets very repetitive and uninspired after the cards scene.
I understand the affection for an established director and actor at their starting point, but I’m not so much into Raimi’s oeuvre to just blindly go with it for a half hour more than needed.
Burn After Reading, written and directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, US, 2008 - ⭐⭐ (rating unchanged)
I absolutely don’t understand the world’s love for a farce as vapid as this one. Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins are always great, but the film’s insistence on George Clooney and Brad Pitt pulling funny faces is immensely irritating.
Yes, the two scenes with J.K. Simmons are fun although as unsubtle as the rest of the movie, but that’s really too little.
Forget After Watching, for the second time.
The Endless, directed by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, written by Justin Benson, US, 2017 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (up from ⭐⭐⭐⭐½)
The mysteries in Resolution naturally pushed me to its sequel, in search for something to contextualise them.
I wonder whether the link between the two films was known in advance, in 2017, even to the limited number of people who knew about the 2012 one.
It takes a long time for The Endless to establish any serious link, and the first ten minutes or so felt almost disappointing in their ’normality’, as we follow domineering Justin and his naive younger brother Aaron, living a repetitive and unhappy life ten years after they left the ‘UFO death cult’ they grew up in.
Then a videotape received in the post pushes Aaron to convince Justin to go back for one day and one night to their old commune, and - subtly at first but very steadily - a lot of things cast doubt on the secluded community’s lifestyle, and the whole desert they are in.
By the time it went back to the Resolution characters, I had forgotten the reason that brought me there, completely absorbed by the atmosphere and new questions raised by the film.
Some of them are clarified - even a few I didn’t even realise I had -, some are left to interpretation.
The Endless completely wraps its audience in a coherent world, one that will not let you go long after the film has ended.
You can find the index for all weekly visions here.