A serial killer policier set in Philadelphia with a male lead, recovering and only partly back on duty, and a female partner who
has sufficient seniority to head up the field team investigating the crimes. This is the second book with this pair, in the first
of which the female is a rookie, with a third featured at the close of this book. It provides something of a contrast between the normal slow routine of checking out leads, known criminals and limited witness statements with the use of informers - in this case a woman who had been badly hurt by one of the prime suspects in the current case - and flashes of inspiration, made mainly by the recovering male detective. He also becomes involved with the female informer. Relying rather on a mix of red herrings and coincidence, the book moves along fairly well but is not overly convincing in the end.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Isis, Justin: I Wonder What Human Flesh Tastes Like
A series of short stories of varying length, some almost a novella, of which three have the same title as the collection. The cover blurb suggests the author is a combination of Oscar Wllde and Villiers de L'Isle-Adam moved to present-day Japan and
this may be a fairly reasonable description. There is a definite air of detached strangeness in all the stories both the long one and the short ones. This strangeness does make the stories hard to enjoy though the overall effect is not unpleasing.
The unfinished nature of many of the tales is a function, I suppose, of their episodic nature and the bleakness of the approach.
this may be a fairly reasonable description. There is a definite air of detached strangeness in all the stories both the long one and the short ones. This strangeness does make the stories hard to enjoy though the overall effect is not unpleasing.
The unfinished nature of many of the tales is a function, I suppose, of their episodic nature and the bleakness of the approach.
Frightfest 2011: Day 5 (29.08.2011)
The Caller: set in San Juan, Puerto Rico, presumably because of funding since none of the main cast have any connection with the island, this is a generational thriller where the heroine receives telephone calls apparently from the past. So-so.
Deadheads: a zombie road trip movie about which I remember less than nothing which was probably what I felt at the time.
Sennentunschi; a Swiss film with Roxane Mesquida in the lead which is based on a legend of a woman made of straw brought tolife by the Devil to cook and keep house for Alpine hunters. When treated as a whore by them, she takes a terrible revenge. This version has Mesquida kept captive by the local priest until she escapes and is taken care of by the local policeman. He takes her from the village to a hut on upper pastures where he leaves her in the care of a shepherd and his
simpleton son; they are joined by a killer on the run, tension rises and killing follows with an ending which harks back to an earlier tragedy. Apparently the first genre film from Switzerland, this is a well made and well acted film.
Inbred: a bunch of delinquents are taken to a lonly cottage in Yorkshire on a weekend away meant to improve their social
skills. Unfortunately, they upset the locals who are psychopaths whose regular entertainment seems to be watching different ways of torture and death. Sort of jokey apart from the resulting death of all the visitors.
A Lonly Place To Die: set in the Scottish Highlands not too far from Inverness, a bunch of climbers set out on a weekend trip but run across a Serbian girl trapped in an underground bunker. Having released her, they find themselves hunted by the
kidnappers who proceed to kill most of them as they try to get the girl back to safety. The girl's father is a Serbian criminal and he has his men hunting the kidnappers as well. The denouement is in a small town where some sort of midsummer festival is on the streets in the late evening. Rather implausible but well done and the best of the British films seen here this year.
Deadheads: a zombie road trip movie about which I remember less than nothing which was probably what I felt at the time.
Sennentunschi; a Swiss film with Roxane Mesquida in the lead which is based on a legend of a woman made of straw brought tolife by the Devil to cook and keep house for Alpine hunters. When treated as a whore by them, she takes a terrible revenge. This version has Mesquida kept captive by the local priest until she escapes and is taken care of by the local policeman. He takes her from the village to a hut on upper pastures where he leaves her in the care of a shepherd and his
simpleton son; they are joined by a killer on the run, tension rises and killing follows with an ending which harks back to an earlier tragedy. Apparently the first genre film from Switzerland, this is a well made and well acted film.
Inbred: a bunch of delinquents are taken to a lonly cottage in Yorkshire on a weekend away meant to improve their social
skills. Unfortunately, they upset the locals who are psychopaths whose regular entertainment seems to be watching different ways of torture and death. Sort of jokey apart from the resulting death of all the visitors.
A Lonly Place To Die: set in the Scottish Highlands not too far from Inverness, a bunch of climbers set out on a weekend trip but run across a Serbian girl trapped in an underground bunker. Having released her, they find themselves hunted by the
kidnappers who proceed to kill most of them as they try to get the girl back to safety. The girl's father is a Serbian criminal and he has his men hunting the kidnappers as well. The denouement is in a small town where some sort of midsummer festival is on the streets in the late evening. Rather implausible but well done and the best of the British films seen here this year.
Frightfest 2011: Day 4 (28.08.2011)
The Divide: A nuclear holocaust finds a mixed bag of survivors in a basement where Michael Biehn, the building's caretaker lives. Initally, he is in control doling out rations but his role is usurped by Milo Ventimiglia and his buddy who run the place as they choose. Rosanne Arquette plays a nymphomanic mother who is used and discarded. Not nice.
The Last Post: part of the short film programme, this stars Jean Marsh as a dying lady in hospital remembering her love who
returns to claim her as she dies - short and sweet.
The Innkeepers: the last days of a New England inn which is closing down. It has a history of paranormal activity and it is the
investigation of this and the subsequent outcome that make the film. Minor with the thrills a long time coming.
Saint; a Dutch film set at the time of the feast of Saint Nicholas who was not, it turns out, the kindly old man but a bloothirsty
pirate. He returns from Hell and sets about killing while his presence is only accepted initially by a student and a disgraced
detective. They eventually prevail after a number of adventures. Well made.
Kill List: considered the highlight of the weeked, this is a parson's egg of a film. Starting as a family drama with Neil Maskell and MyAnna Buring as a married couple quarelling about money who entertain his best friend and his girlfriend of the moment to dinner. It turns out that the two men are ex-soldiers who served together in Iraq who have become contract killers though their last assignment in the Ukraine seems to have not gone as it should have done. They are given new tasks and deal with these but Maskell is becoming unhinged at which point the film turns into a Dennis Wheatley thriller with a
black mass, the death of the friend and, finally, the death of Maskell's wife and son at his hand. End of film. It has been
well-reviewed by most national critics but undeservingly so. The first half or so are acceptably done but the incoherence that follows destroys any credibility the film might have had with the ending confirming this.
The Last Post: part of the short film programme, this stars Jean Marsh as a dying lady in hospital remembering her love who
returns to claim her as she dies - short and sweet.
The Innkeepers: the last days of a New England inn which is closing down. It has a history of paranormal activity and it is the
investigation of this and the subsequent outcome that make the film. Minor with the thrills a long time coming.
Saint; a Dutch film set at the time of the feast of Saint Nicholas who was not, it turns out, the kindly old man but a bloothirsty
pirate. He returns from Hell and sets about killing while his presence is only accepted initially by a student and a disgraced
detective. They eventually prevail after a number of adventures. Well made.
Kill List: considered the highlight of the weeked, this is a parson's egg of a film. Starting as a family drama with Neil Maskell and MyAnna Buring as a married couple quarelling about money who entertain his best friend and his girlfriend of the moment to dinner. It turns out that the two men are ex-soldiers who served together in Iraq who have become contract killers though their last assignment in the Ukraine seems to have not gone as it should have done. They are given new tasks and deal with these but Maskell is becoming unhinged at which point the film turns into a Dennis Wheatley thriller with a
black mass, the death of the friend and, finally, the death of Maskell's wife and son at his hand. End of film. It has been
well-reviewed by most national critics but undeservingly so. The first half or so are acceptably done but the incoherence that follows destroys any credibility the film might have had with the ending confirming this.
Frightfest 2011: Day 3 (27.08.2011)
Troll Hunter: a Norwegian film using found footage to tell the story. Not a process that I like as it does make for difficult viewing but there is sufficient 'proper' filming to offset this and the scenery is glorious. The title tells it all - trolls do exist and are kept secret and controlled by a secret Government department but three students stumble on this and are taken along by the eponymous lead. The special effects are well done with there being different types of troll.
The Wicker Tree: Robin Hardy has produced a variant follow-up to the unforgettable 'The Wicker Man' with a different variation on pagan practices. A born-again Christian evangelical singer and her boy friend embark on a Scottish tour and are
guests of a local laird in south-west Scotland where they eventually discover that all is not as they thought to the eventual
demise of them both. Possibly a second viewing may improve my feeling for the film but I suspect that the real problem lies in the cast. None of them hold a candle to the original cast, even the less important of the latter such as Britt Eklund and the two original leads - Edward Woodward and the great Christopher Lee - are so superior as to be in a different world.
My Sucky Teen Romance: made by an 18 year old and it showed though it is better than a lot of first efforts even with such a
silly story line.
Fright Night 3D: a remake with Colin Farrell, David Tennant and Toni Collette of the original with the 3D adding little to the film which is glossy, reasonaly well-made but a waste of time.
The Woman: a feral woman is captured by a bullying husband whose attitude to his wife leaves one wondering why he married except, possibly, to continue his species. He and his teenage son torture her and humiliate her until she gets free and turns the tables on both his family and him though not before a resourceful female reporter has also been killed by him. A stand out performance by Pollyanna McIntosh in a thoroughly nasty film.
Chillerama: the second compendium film of the weekend starting with a ridiculous episode about a sperm that kept growing;
made in the style of some horror films of the 60s, this was abad as it sounds. This was followed by an even worse sequence called 'The Diary of Anne Frankenstein' which we did not see to the end - the usual delay to later items on the daily programme meant this film started much later than it should have and the badness compounded this
The Wicker Tree: Robin Hardy has produced a variant follow-up to the unforgettable 'The Wicker Man' with a different variation on pagan practices. A born-again Christian evangelical singer and her boy friend embark on a Scottish tour and are
guests of a local laird in south-west Scotland where they eventually discover that all is not as they thought to the eventual
demise of them both. Possibly a second viewing may improve my feeling for the film but I suspect that the real problem lies in the cast. None of them hold a candle to the original cast, even the less important of the latter such as Britt Eklund and the two original leads - Edward Woodward and the great Christopher Lee - are so superior as to be in a different world.
My Sucky Teen Romance: made by an 18 year old and it showed though it is better than a lot of first efforts even with such a
silly story line.
Fright Night 3D: a remake with Colin Farrell, David Tennant and Toni Collette of the original with the 3D adding little to the film which is glossy, reasonaly well-made but a waste of time.
The Woman: a feral woman is captured by a bullying husband whose attitude to his wife leaves one wondering why he married except, possibly, to continue his species. He and his teenage son torture her and humiliate her until she gets free and turns the tables on both his family and him though not before a resourceful female reporter has also been killed by him. A stand out performance by Pollyanna McIntosh in a thoroughly nasty film.
Chillerama: the second compendium film of the weekend starting with a ridiculous episode about a sperm that kept growing;
made in the style of some horror films of the 60s, this was abad as it sounds. This was followed by an even worse sequence called 'The Diary of Anne Frankenstein' which we did not see to the end - the usual delay to later items on the daily programme meant this film started much later than it should have and the badness compounded this
Frightfest 2011: Day 2 (26.08.2011)
Rogue River: A girl drives out to the middle of a forested countryside to scatter her father's ashes. Her car is twoed away by the local police and she is befriended by a local man who offers to drive her to a hotel after stopping at his house to tell his
wife. The latter insists she stays with them which she does only to find she has really been taken captive. As the film progresses, so does the violence though the resourceful heroine does eventually prevail. Not bad.
A Horrible Way To Die: Trying to start a new life after finding her boyfriend was a psychopathic killer, Sarah's life is turned to one of fear when he escapes from prison and comes after her. She then finds that the man who has become her mentor at the local AA branch is a fan of the killer which puts her life in double danger but she finally saves herself.A fair idea which is rather spoiled by its execution.
Urban Explorers: an illegal visit to the tunnels under Berlin turns into a nightmare for the four tourists who take it in what is an interestingly plotted film reasonly done.
The Glass Man: James Cosmo hires a man who has been fired but who continues to behave as if still working to help him kill
someone which he agree to do. A number of twists and turns create an increasingly surreal situation in which the unemployed man loses sight of reality. So-so
Tucker and Dale vs Evil: a reversal of the usually expected characteristion with the hillbillies being the good guys and the city
folks the baddies, sort of. Amusingly told and well put together with some delightful touches.
wife. The latter insists she stays with them which she does only to find she has really been taken captive. As the film progresses, so does the violence though the resourceful heroine does eventually prevail. Not bad.
A Horrible Way To Die: Trying to start a new life after finding her boyfriend was a psychopathic killer, Sarah's life is turned to one of fear when he escapes from prison and comes after her. She then finds that the man who has become her mentor at the local AA branch is a fan of the killer which puts her life in double danger but she finally saves herself.A fair idea which is rather spoiled by its execution.
Urban Explorers: an illegal visit to the tunnels under Berlin turns into a nightmare for the four tourists who take it in what is an interestingly plotted film reasonly done.
The Glass Man: James Cosmo hires a man who has been fired but who continues to behave as if still working to help him kill
someone which he agree to do. A number of twists and turns create an increasingly surreal situation in which the unemployed man loses sight of reality. So-so
Tucker and Dale vs Evil: a reversal of the usually expected characteristion with the hillbillies being the good guys and the city
folks the baddies, sort of. Amusingly told and well put together with some delightful touches.
Frightfest 2011: Day 1 (25.08.2011)
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark: The opening film of the weekend was a high budget Hollywood drama with little to commend it.
Katie Holmes plays the fiancee of Guy Pearce who is renovating an old house for them to move into together with his young
daughter by his first marriage. Like nearly all such houses, it is dark and gloomy and the girl is withdrawn despite Holmes's
attempts to become friends with her. A hidden room is discovered and the girl spends time in it being interested by the voices she hears - these belong to some ratlike creatures dwelling in the depths below the house but communicatins through
a barred grate. Pearce is wrapped up in his work but a major failing of the film is the complete lack of chemistry between Katie Holmes and him even when it is obvious that matters are going awry. Even the sacrifice Holmes makes to save the child produces a reaction on about the same level as finding the wrong newspaper had been delivered.
Final Destination 5 - 3D: I am not too enthusiastic about 3D films but the effects in this were, for the most part, well done and justified the use of the third dimension. The plot is basically the same as before - you cannot cheat death even though you may delay it. Starting with a college field trip in which an accident on a bridge results in a number if spectacular deaths while some of the students manage to escape, the film then produces the final death of all of them one by one up to the final
scene which takes us back to the very first film of the franchise. Enjoyable tosh.
The Theatre Bizarre: the first late night film we have ever seen at Frightfest is episodic with different directors telling six tales between them with an odd linking performance by Udo Keir. As with all such films, the episodes vary considerably. The first one with a young couple crossing paths with a voluptuous witch who is seen at first as a crone is one of the better ones as was that of the two lovers in a hotel room but the others varied between average and less than average.
Katie Holmes plays the fiancee of Guy Pearce who is renovating an old house for them to move into together with his young
daughter by his first marriage. Like nearly all such houses, it is dark and gloomy and the girl is withdrawn despite Holmes's
attempts to become friends with her. A hidden room is discovered and the girl spends time in it being interested by the voices she hears - these belong to some ratlike creatures dwelling in the depths below the house but communicatins through
a barred grate. Pearce is wrapped up in his work but a major failing of the film is the complete lack of chemistry between Katie Holmes and him even when it is obvious that matters are going awry. Even the sacrifice Holmes makes to save the child produces a reaction on about the same level as finding the wrong newspaper had been delivered.
Final Destination 5 - 3D: I am not too enthusiastic about 3D films but the effects in this were, for the most part, well done and justified the use of the third dimension. The plot is basically the same as before - you cannot cheat death even though you may delay it. Starting with a college field trip in which an accident on a bridge results in a number if spectacular deaths while some of the students manage to escape, the film then produces the final death of all of them one by one up to the final
scene which takes us back to the very first film of the franchise. Enjoyable tosh.
The Theatre Bizarre: the first late night film we have ever seen at Frightfest is episodic with different directors telling six tales between them with an odd linking performance by Udo Keir. As with all such films, the episodes vary considerably. The first one with a young couple crossing paths with a voluptuous witch who is seen at first as a crone is one of the better ones as was that of the two lovers in a hotel room but the others varied between average and less than average.
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