Screamfest L.A. Movie Review Roundup
Screamfest L.A. Movie Review Roundup
Mini movie reviews of Rogue River, My Super Psycho Sweet Sixteen 2, The Shrine
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As the 10th Annual Screamfest L.A. winds down (what's left? Tonight we have Hysteria, Gregory Nicotero's short film Night of the Punks, and The Pack. Then tomorrow, it's The Psycho Legacy documentary, Black Death, and a whole slew of shorts) — it's time to look back in review.
My favorite film at the fest was Night of the Demons, but since that is coming out on DVD soon and there are some great extras on it, I'll post something separately. Here's a rundown of the rest; it's a good cross section of movies which could not be more different from one another. (As per usual, programmer and Screamfest sultana Rachel Belofsky's done a commendable job of finding a little something for everyone.)
Mild spoilers follow.
ROGUE RIVER
With torturous scenes reminiscent of Darren Lynn Bousman's Mother's Day but without the home invasion aspect, and kind of like the I Spit on Your Grave remake but without the extreme sexual content, Rogue River follows the terror-fraught tale of Mara (Michelle Page). Mara is a grieving young woman who travels to said body of water to scatter her father's ashes and say goodbye, but is snatched and held captive by pair of sick, incestuous, psychotic siblings — Jon (Bill Moseley) and Lea (Lucinda Jenney).
While the subject matter didn't appeal to me (it's pretty grim and twisted stuff, and largely humorless), I must say I was mightily impressed by the direction (suspenseful) and cast (Moseley's always great, but Jenney really steals the show here).
THE SHRINE
Can't help but compare (even when it's not a remake… there is always something similar, isn't there?) The Shrine to Hostel meets The Exorcist 3 with a dash of The Ruins thrown in (as a matter of fact, star Aaron Ashmore's twin brother Shawn was in the latter). Ashmore plays Marcus, the hapless boyfriend of uber-control freak journalist Carmen (Cindy Sampson), who turns their working vacation into a living hell. Like, literally.
Carmen is determined to find a backpacker who's gone missing somewhere in rural Poland, and she finds him in… the shrine. The creepy (but very fashionable, chapeau'ed) cult is always looking for new blood and the way they get it is to create clouds of mystery, drawing in the curious like flies to a sticky web.
While The Shrine isn't altogether horrible, the acting is quite uneven (both hero leads overact quite a bit, and the villains must wrap their tongues around not only ridiculous Polish accents but even nuttier dialogue) and the story doesn't really start to grab you until it's almost too late. Still, the score is pretty happening and the cinematography has its moments. The practical effects are excellent, given the film's (low) budget.
MY SUPER PSYCHO SWEET 16 PT 2
In the first made-for-MTV teen horror flick, the birthday girl's father turns out to be the killer and she (Skye, played by Lauren McKnight) goes on the run to escape the bad memories.
MSPS162 picks up right where everything left off, as Skye decides to seek refuge with her mother (yep, mom abandoned her as an infant, leaving the helpless child in the hands of a super-psycho) — needless to say, this isn't the best course of action. With much bloodier and better kills than the first flick, and with a little more biting humor, MSPS162 is a definite improvement and a fun enough way to spend a bloody birthday.
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Staci Layne Wilson reporting