Many elements are reminiscent of the classic horror road, although there is nothing new, but it is loyal to the classic conservative style and has a classical comfort. The absence of contrived marks in this treatment is also a success.
I think from the very beginning until the truth is revealed, the plot and rhythm are all very good. The murder scene at Alex's house is crisp and natural, and the plot is well explained. I think horror movies are more open and honest at the beginning than they are clever. It has no secrets, it tells you directly, two girls, a family, an invading murderer. There's nothing else to go into, attack, or run away. The way of killing is also very natural, classical cutting palms, throats, beheading, the tools used are ordinary kitchen knives, cabinets at home... so much so that when the chainsaw suddenly appeared near the end of the movie, I was disappointed and discouraged. .
It wasn't just the chainsaw that was frustrating, but the sudden revelation of the truth, ah, it turned out that Mary was a schizophrenic, and the murderer was her hallucination, it turned out that she loved Alex and killed everything to get her. hindered person. It turned out that the confession at the beginning of the film was just a trick, but it was actually a euphemistic and strange film. It walks along the classical bright road, suddenly turns into a psychological suspense, and puts itself on a fashionable coat. The result of this is that the film is broken in two, and the final kiss is almost Japanese and Korean. The shadow of a horror movie, the warm, possessiveness of a tangled woman.
I'm not against psychological suspense films, I'm just sorry that a horror film that looks like it's going to be a complete, classic horror film spoils its own future. How I wish there was a beautiful, pure wave of classic horror in a sea of horrors derived from psychology.
Let me turn to another film review that I think is good:
"High Voltage": a horror film that "lasts sixty minutes of orgasm"
There hasn't been a European horror film in the last two years that is as bloody and violent as all American horror films like Haute tension (aka "Love You Kill You"). The film itself also permeates a unique European flavor. The film not only stimulates the audience's audio-visual senses, but also expresses the film creator's views on the relationship between human nature and sex in the most extreme and cruel way.
This French film made in 2003, the production cost of more than 2 million euros is not a big production, and the story is not complicated. On the surface, it can even be said to be a single clue. Two college girls, Mary and Alex, drove to the countryside to Alex's parents' house for a vacation. A mysterious killer drove a truck to the door of Alex's house in the middle of the night and destroyed Alex in the cruelest way. His father, mother, son, and even the family's pet dog, Alex was tied and imprisoned alone. The awakened Mary, after witnessing a series of tragedies, has been trying to avoid the killer in a small space, and tried to rescue her friend Alex who was driven away by the killer. Can Mary rescue her best friend? Or is all this not what the audience imagined?
The film's violent bloody scenes and violent scenes made this film rated NC-17 by MPAA when it was released in North America in June this year. There are indeed many scenes of severed heads, slits of throats, and chainsaws slicing people into pieces. But in fact, the most shocking thing about the film is not just these. "High Voltage" actually borrows the style elements of classic horror killer movies such as "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Halloween", and at the same time uses "Shamakilan" similar to "The Sixth Sense" and "The Island". "style" (named after the Indian-American director made a series of thrilling films with similar narrative modes such as "The Sixth Sense", "Omens" and "The Village") narrative method, that is, in the last ten minutes of the film Give the audience a completely subversive story twist, completely making the audience eager to flash back the picture of the past hour or so in their hearts at the fastest speed, and obtain the dual pleasure of audio-visual and inner feelings.
The setting of the character Mary in the story of "High Voltage" is actually quite similar to the American "Deadly ID" and "Fight Club". It is the multiple personalities of the characters that have become the biggest narrative turning point in the film. In the last ten minutes of the film, "High Voltage", like "Fight Club", allows the audience to see through the surveillance video that the killer and Mary are actually the same person. The other violent personality that induces Mary is actually Mary's infatuation with Alex. In the unusually calm narrative in the first twenty-five minutes of the film, the director foreshadowed all the details of Mary's infatuation with Alex. It is this kind of same-sex love that is achievable and hard to get, which finally split Mary's personality and destroyed all the obstacles she thought she had. And Mary's own two split personalities are fighting with each other, and Mary hopes that she can rescue Alex at the most critical time, and completely satisfy her possessiveness towards each other.
The seemingly exaggerated title at the beginning of this article is actually not an exaggeration after watching the entire film. In the film, at nightfall, after peeking at Alex's bath, Marie returned to her room alone, missing her lover, she couldn't help but started masturbating, but when she was about to climax, she was suddenly intruded. The killer interrupted. Therefore, it can indeed be said that the bloody nightmare of killing all night after that is actually the climax stage of Mary indulging in her own sexual fantasies, just turning the pleasure of reproduction into the most primitive violence of adult sex. It is the creator's creative transformation of meaning that makes such a European film that pays homage to a classic American horror film unconventional and unexpected. So calling it a horror movie with a "sixty-minute orgasm" is actually quite appropriate.
Such a European horror movie with the potential to become a classic has been easily released in more than 20 countries and regions around the world in the past two years, and has achieved good commercial results. And horror thrillers, especially those with young people as the protagonists, have a large market share not only in Europe but also in North American Hollywood. Especially in the past two years, taking Hollywood as an example, thrilling horror films have repeatedly become big box-office earners. Perhaps some "blockbuster" movies with direct box-office figures of over 100 million are not necessarily over 100 million, but in terms of input-output income ratio , this type of film is at the top of the list. Just looking at Hollywood this year, from January to the present, there are roughly ten such horror movies among the top-grossing movies in North America every weekend, which is enough to illustrate the problem. Moreover, when this "High Voltage" was finally released in the United States in June this year, it won more than 1,300 screens during its opening weekend. For an NC-17-level film, it can already be called a commander. The size of the release is surprising.
Why are filmmakers in Hollywood or the world so keen on horror movies? Of course, basically everyone has the underlying desire to be frightened or stimulated. Horror movies are the best channel for emotional release and relaxation. But when it comes to the fundamentals, mainstream movies are still a business book after all, and the choice of filmmakers will always put their interests first. For example, horror and violent movies such as "High Voltage" are first and foremost one of the most sought-after commercial movie genres by young people as the main body of movie consumption. Like warm and romantic movies, they are the most popular for young people to fall in love and spend their weekends. Good choice; secondly, it is difficult for such a horror movie full of violent pictures to be broadcast directly on the TV network like other movies, and even if it is broadcast, it will be cut off at all, so this also prompts more viewers to only Enter the theater to enjoy the real horror; finally, and the most crucial point, is that in the past few years, the DVD audio-visual market around the world has expanded rapidly, and many movies have more box office revenue than DVD revenue, and horror movies are the first to bear the brunt, plus the front For two reasons, DVDs of horror genre films are also the best-selling variety in the audiovisual market. Therefore, I believe that in the next few years, the consumption boom for horror films such as "High Voltage" will continue for some time. And, whether the horror comes from Europe or the United States, there is essentially no difference in people's desire to be frightened.
View more about High Tension reviews
