peepingtomcat
Lifetime Total
1+
IMDb Member
23 years
Reviews
You Move You Die (2007)
Lock, stock and bottom of the barrel
Alas, Francis Ford Coppola was wrong. The digital camera revolution has not resulted in an explosion of talent gracing our screens. All it has delivered is the never ending glut of amateur material, posturing as cinema, that clog the shelves of video stores worldwide. YOU MOVE YOU DIE is a continuation of this never ending cycle of sub-mediocre, ego- driven and wholly wretched home-movies.
Suffering through YOU MOVE YOU DIE is like watching a gang of young schoolboys, inspired by a movie they just saw, playing Goodies and Baddies as they chase each other around the drab back streets of their boring small town. They play-fight and play-act, and do all things their parents would frown upon (like swearing and smoking). The jolly romp is all made up on the spur of the moment and after an hour or so, they're so darn tuckered out from all the tussling and screaming and pointlessness of it all, so they simply...stop.
Now imagine a group of age-retarded adult men in their thirties, doing the above. Yet sadder still, is their friend with a video-camera who's followed them around as they playact like little kids- bored during the summer holidays. Then afterwards, they all wearily (but satisfied and with much backslapping) go back home to endlessly watch themselves replayed on telly, over fizzy drinks and chips as they collectively fantasize about hanging out with Tarantino.
That pretty much sums up wrist-slitting banality that is YOU MOVE YOU DIE.
Suffering through YOU MOVE YOU DIE is like watching a gang of young schoolboys, inspired by a movie they just saw, playing Goodies and Baddies as they chase each other around the drab back streets of their boring small town. They play-fight and play-act, and do all things their parents would frown upon (like swearing and smoking). The jolly romp is all made up on the spur of the moment and after an hour or so, they're so darn tuckered out from all the tussling and screaming and pointlessness of it all, so they simply...stop.
Now imagine a group of age-retarded adult men in their thirties, doing the above. Yet sadder still, is their friend with a video-camera who's followed them around as they playact like little kids- bored during the summer holidays. Then afterwards, they all wearily (but satisfied and with much backslapping) go back home to endlessly watch themselves replayed on telly, over fizzy drinks and chips as they collectively fantasize about hanging out with Tarantino.
That pretty much sums up wrist-slitting banality that is YOU MOVE YOU DIE.
Raat (1992)
An exotic treat for open-minded fans
******MINOR SPOILERS****
Mixing dashes of THE EXORCIST, EVIL DEAD-inspired scares with Dario Argento-style image/sound combinations against a NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET-derived female teen protaganist, RAATRI really is the business. Never dull, and boasting some eerie atmospheric sequences (esp. when she finds herself alone, in what was seconds previously a crowded cinema-truly hallucinogenic), the cut'n'paste nature of the plot doesn't interfere with the flick's high enjoyability factor.
RAATRI is an oddity for a Hindi flick- with no songs, no dance sequences,it delivers none of the escapism/romance typical of mainstream Bollywood fare. (To my Western eyes it seems like a totally "Off-Bollywood" production). This fact alone makes it a rare treat, and the peculiarly Indian spin on Hollywood's high school genre combined with the usual censorship limitations (i.e low gore) combine in an exotic manner delivering a tone quite unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's as cheesy as 80's Hong Kong horror in places, but...with that era sadly gone forever, this isn't necessarily a complaint.
The lack of body count may disappoint hardcore gore-hounds but the film makes up for it in spades, with over-the-top sound design and a highly charged, atmospheric and eerie music score (some of which sounds awfully familiar to THE EXORCIST).
For newbies to Hindi film, it's a great introduction and minus the staple song and dance numbers, (which I felt would have been terrific) it's a breezy two hours plus in duration. The acting is fine, the fx-old school (but all the better for it) and...the ending?...well, I've always been a sucker for a freeze-frame finale, especially when there's a demonic cat involved! Who couldn't dig a film that that simply announces "THRILLS by..." in the opening titles?
The end credits mysteriously announce "70mm" in sound and pic departments-and the mind boggles at the thought of this gem being shot and viewed (if such is the case) in this format. WOW!
Mixing dashes of THE EXORCIST, EVIL DEAD-inspired scares with Dario Argento-style image/sound combinations against a NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET-derived female teen protaganist, RAATRI really is the business. Never dull, and boasting some eerie atmospheric sequences (esp. when she finds herself alone, in what was seconds previously a crowded cinema-truly hallucinogenic), the cut'n'paste nature of the plot doesn't interfere with the flick's high enjoyability factor.
RAATRI is an oddity for a Hindi flick- with no songs, no dance sequences,it delivers none of the escapism/romance typical of mainstream Bollywood fare. (To my Western eyes it seems like a totally "Off-Bollywood" production). This fact alone makes it a rare treat, and the peculiarly Indian spin on Hollywood's high school genre combined with the usual censorship limitations (i.e low gore) combine in an exotic manner delivering a tone quite unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's as cheesy as 80's Hong Kong horror in places, but...with that era sadly gone forever, this isn't necessarily a complaint.
The lack of body count may disappoint hardcore gore-hounds but the film makes up for it in spades, with over-the-top sound design and a highly charged, atmospheric and eerie music score (some of which sounds awfully familiar to THE EXORCIST).
For newbies to Hindi film, it's a great introduction and minus the staple song and dance numbers, (which I felt would have been terrific) it's a breezy two hours plus in duration. The acting is fine, the fx-old school (but all the better for it) and...the ending?...well, I've always been a sucker for a freeze-frame finale, especially when there's a demonic cat involved! Who couldn't dig a film that that simply announces "THRILLS by..." in the opening titles?
The end credits mysteriously announce "70mm" in sound and pic departments-and the mind boggles at the thought of this gem being shot and viewed (if such is the case) in this format. WOW!
When Strangers Appear (2001)
....like watching TETRIS in slow motion...
WHEN STRANGERS APPEAR is a by-the-numbers wannabe thriller with aspirations to BLOOD SIMPLE but without a single frame of originality. The audience I watched this with hooted loudly at the on-screen shenanigans and past the midway mark were loudly screaming `spot the cliche!' at the screen. The script is turgid and thrilless, the acting ranges from ham to turkey and the director treats the audience like idiots by trying to get away with some of the stupidest lapses in logic ever witnessed. I honestly can't think of a single positive thing to say about this film which seems to be a home-movie. I can recommend watching it with a group of friends, some beers and a large sack of rotten tomatoes to hurl at the screen.