V/H/S Review

V/H/S Review

 

bloody-disgusting.com

 

 

I, like most horror fans, have been trying to find the next truly original, mind blowing horror film on par with classics like The Exorcist and The Shining. There has been a lot of hype surrounding V/H/S on the indie circuit with some people claiming it to be a revert back to true horror films, with that in mind I decided to give it a watch on Netflix last week. So the question is does this film live up to those expectations? The short answer: no.

 

The film is a selection of 6 short films, directed by a variety of different people including the notable Ti West who directed the incredible 'The House of the Devil'. The over-reaching story arc is about a group of young rebellious 'youths' who break into a house and find a stach of video tapes, these video tapes then serve as each of the 6 short stories. The quality of the shorts is mixed, ranging from intelligent and creepy to hideously gory and downright stupid. Each story is shot using a handy cam style similar to that of The Blair Witch Project or the Paranormal Activity franchise and appears to use similar traits of that genre.

 

Some of the shorts were genuinely creepy like the Skype chat based "The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger" and the clever "The Second Honeymoon". While a couple of the films were creepy, usually the scares came from the excessive use of gore and shock imagery, disturbing images that catch you by surprise play a vital role in the film's scare tactics making some of the films seem a little cheaply thought out. From watching it from an analytical point of view, it seemed to me that each story was making some sort of reference to either castration or the male gaze, two topics rooted in feminist film theory. These kinds of things are like crack to horror film nerds and made the films a little more bareable to watch, as some of them were pretty hard to sit through due to the gore.

 

On the acting side, the talent was varied, with some great performances like in "The Second Honeymoon" and some terrible ones, most of them in the slasher inspired "Tuesday the 17th". The bad acting in some of the films made the found footage style of the shorts much less belivable and making some of them comedic rather than scary. The camera work is standard found footage, its nausiating, yet an effective way to generate some creepy 'blink and you'll miss it' moments.

 

If you are looking for the next big Horror film classic in V/H/S don't get your hopes up, its a varied selection of shorts which are big on gore and jump scares and less about intelligent horror design. Some of the shorts however can be fun to watch and pick apart, and the overall production qualities are solid. If you're bored tonight its worth a watch on Netflix US.

7/10

Les Misérables Review

Les Miserables Review 

 

www.ilex-press.com

Les Miserables, an adaptation of the 1983 musical which has been in operation for 30 years, is a film which manages to capture the feeling of the musical, but perhaps not of the period in which it is set. While the strong British accents and high production values may make the film too glossy to be a fully period piece, it manages to stir up emotions and by the sound of the box office figures, keep the audience fully engaged in its musical magic.

While some die hard fans may critisise the Tom Hooper directed film for not staying 100% true to the original novel, the film does stay true to the musical. Hooper has created one of the most convincing adaptations of a musical I have seen, not being tempted to add more non-musical dialogue that is needed. The film is essentially a 2 and a half hour song, with few breaks in between to let your emotions settle, this creates the atmosphere of being in a theatre watching it live and helps to create some truly emotional moments. One such moment, starring a desperate Fantine played by Anne Hathaway, involves a stirring rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream', in which she has just sold her body for the sake of her child. The emotional intensity of Hathaway's vocals (Exentuated by Hooper's desision to film the vocals live on camera) give the performance an raw and stripped back feel, using closeup angles to fully involve the audience in Fantine's emotional struggle. Some other noteworthy moments of the film include the soaring whole cast rendition of 'One Day More', Samantha Bark's self pitying 'On My Own' and the Finale in which the whole cast sing triumphantly 'Do You Hear the People Sing'. 

On the technical side the films cinematography is astounding, with the use of very close zooms for emotional intensity and swooping handy cam shots of the dark Parisian streets making the film that bit more engaging. The performances throughout the film were brilliant, with notable highlights including Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and Helena Bonham Carter as the comedic innkeeper along with her husband played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Some critics argue that the use of live vocals has detracted from the films story and atmosphere, with notable finger pointing at Russell Crowe's singing abilities. I however found that the vocals, while not autotuned to perfection, were very impressive, especially Hugh Jackman who pushes his surprisingly operatic voice to its full potential. I also witnessed my first round of applause at the end of a film on my first visit to see it, which only proves that the film really does suck the audience in emotionally. While Les Miserables may not be utter cinematic perfection, it is in fact the best musical I have ever seen on the big screen, with its raw intensity and superb performances creating an emotional spectacle not to be missed.

10/10