MONSTER **** USA 2003 Dir: Patty Jenkins. 109 mins The title itself is subjective: writer-director Patty Jenkins doesn’t dilute the crimes of executed “white trash” Florida murderer Aileen Wuornos (who, at the time, had recently been the subject of Nick Broomfield’s widely admired documentaries), nor does she mute her abrasive personality. But, in removing the usual real-life serial killer movie cliches, Jenkins crafts the empathetic story of one woman’s struggle (and failure) to turn her life around, punctuated by black humour, perceptive observations and non-sensationalistic depictions of the killings themselves. Charlize Theron won a deserved Oscar for a role that…
Author: Steven West
DAWN BREAKS BEHIND THE EYES *** Germany 2021 Dir: Kevin Kopacka. 73 mins Austrian-Sri-Lankan filmmaker / artist Kevin Kopacka’s second feature – after 2020’s HAGER – is a disorientating, multi-layered Gothic tale of entrapment that toys with everything from the Eastmancolor atmosphere of Mario Bava’s classic horror films and the work of Jean Rollin to the Manson Family and the time-warps of European genre fare like Fulci’s THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. Dieter (Frederik von Luttichau) and Margot (Luisa Taraz) are a childless couple stuck in a marriage of festering, mutual resentment. He’s an insecure stuffed shirt unable to overcome…
DOG SOLDIERS **** UK / Luxembourg 2002 Dir: Neil Marshall. 105 mins Neil Marshall’s feature directorial debut was refreshing in the early 2000s (along with a tiny few other modestly budgeted genre films like GINGER SNAPS) for its enthusiastic use of old-school werewolves and make-up effects at a time when godawful CGI lycanthropes were starting to become the norm in Hollywood movies. DOG SOLDIERS even has a transformation sequence involving a character disappearing behind a desk in the vein of key metamorphoses in classic horror. The set-up is simple, albeit with some backstory twists in the second half: six squaddies…
FAIR GAME *** Australia 1986 Dir: Mario Andreacchio. 86 mins Budding artist / wildlife sanctuary manager Cassandra Delaney is harassed by a leery, grinning bunch of pre-apocalyptic, sub-MAD MAX thugs (the more charming one is actually the worst of a lot) in this briskly paced Ozploitation number. They’re flouting the rules, hunting and wounding kangaroos in the vicinity (echoes of WAKE IN FRIGHT) and she strives to run them off the road after their initial bout of verbal and physical harassment. The local cops consider her “frothing at the mouth like a mad dog” with no evidence and recommend nothing…
THE REEF: STALKED *** Australia 2022 Dir: Andrew Traucki. 92 mins In the decade or so between THE REEF and its sequel, writer-director Andrew Traucki has operated on similar ground, unleashing THE JUNGLE (2013) and 2020’s BLACK WATER: ABYSS. Like the latter, THE REEF: STALKED is a belated sequel to a well-received natural horror film with an all-new, similarly small cast and a similar scenario. It also continues Traucki’s preference for largely avoiding CGI in favour of carefully superimposed footage of real sharks. It’s a solid, suspenseful sequel, with better performances than its predecessor, beautiful location work and a couple…