Silver Bullet: I Love You, The Peace Maker

You know what I love about werewolf movies? They are essentially just whodunit murder mysteries with more blood and psychological undertones. And I love that. I also love saying whodunit because it's one word and it looks totally made up as a real word but it IS a real word.

I believe it has been.....a very long time since I've watched a werewolf movie. And I don't know why because every time I sit down and watch one after a hiatus of not watching them--I say to myself: "Why don't I watch more werewolf movies?" Why indeed.

I remember watching Silver Bullet a very long time ago. My Dad had been watching it on TV and was enthralled by the fact that the kid's wheelchair was motorized. So was I come to think of it. That thing is badass.

I remember the ending chase scene and dual feeling of excitement and terror. The same two feelings I get when running on the treadmill past 4.0 MPH.

Taking place in a small town probably in Maine, Silver Bullet also reminds me how much I love small town horror movies. Small towns are breeding grounds for the best characters you will ever find in a movie. Here are your crazy Ralph's, your old Church ladies, your racist and politically confused neighbors. Small towns rock. Plus they make us feel compassionate for just about everyone (minus the racist and politically confused neighbor) who dies---which is quite a feat for a horror movie when you think about it.

To put it simply, Silver Bullet is one of the best werewolf movies out there for several reasons. It'll charm the pants off you (I'm pretty sure it's the only horror movie to make me cry at the end). The artistic splaying of dead bodies is something to gawk at.

And the werewolf is one of the craftiest motherfuckers I've ever had the pleasure of watching. I know we're in an age now where we can't expect to be surprised by the modern developments of seemingly classic movie monsters, but seeing that werewolf climb up a terrace or beat someone up with the Peace Maker is kind of the best thing that ever happened to me.

Which reminds me. The Peace Maker (captial P, son!) is my new favorite thing. I'm totally going to carry that around from now on and break up fights with it. Of course one very important thing to remember about the Peacemaker.... good for breaking up fights in bars.

Not so good for killing werewolves.

BUT, good for werewolves to kill people with.

While I'm at it. Does anyone else feel funny when they see John Locke with hair?

Perhaps not as funny as you would feel when seeing "Father" from People Under the Stairs playing a different kind of Father.

 Especially since the last time I saw him, he was wearing this.

Of course neither of those things even come close to the kind of funny you feel when you realize that Gary Busey is your Uncle.

Sorry, I'm all amped up and excited about werewolves which as we all know creates a feeling of total inhibition within me causing me to just blog my thoughts as they are directly pouring into my head. I better go now before I say something I regret.


PS: Rest in peace....the Peace Maker.

The world is a cruel, cruel place.

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed: Werewolf Interrupted

It's been about a year and a half since I last visited the Fitzgerald sisters, despite the many suggestions that I most definitely, have to, must see the sequel. As we know I sometimes feel funny about sequels, but I had made up my mind to give Ginger Snaps 2 a shot. The comments after my first Ginger Snaps viewing ranged from people loving the sequel more, to hating it, to not even seeing it on principle. I wasn't sure what to think but now--consider me on team Ginger Snaps 2.

Here's the thing about Ginger Snaps 2--it's awesome. One of the problems I had with the first film was that Ginger annoyed me. I still can't be sure if it was simply or character or the acting chops of Katharine Isabelle, who seemed to be just a tad too bitchy and mean to really seem very convincing. Ginger Snaps 2 however finds us almost completely in the care of Emily Perkins/Brigitte which is a blessing from high heaven. Katharine Isabelle makes a few cameos here and there but it's all good in the hood. Plus, it makes me sad because I remember how touching that last part of Ginger Snaps was and then I think of MY sister and I get all weepy and mopey.

Ginger Snaps 2 takes place at some point after the events of the first film. Brigitte is trying to cope with the after affects of injecting herself with her sister's blood--and has developed a dependency on the monkshood. The herbs apparently are just delaying the disease however and we soon find that a mysterious werewolf has been stalking Brigitte. After she overdoses on the monkshood one night, and her brief companion is killed by the other werewolf, Brigitte wakes up and finds herself in a rehab clinic. With no easy way to get the monkshood or escape--Brigitte soon realizes that she is running out of time.

The best thing about Ginger Snaps 2 is that it is a sequel that has a brain. This isn't simply a rehashing of all the best parts about the original. Instead, it rather intelligently takes the premise and offers up a completely new and intriguing side to things--and it does this in one of the most unpredictable ways I have ever seen. When I saw the first film, I quipped how funny it was that monkshood turned into this crazy heroin-like drug. Well, obviously... that was obvious and the whole idea that Brigitte wakes up in a drug rehabilitation center is absolutely perfect. Perfect because it puts a whole new urgency on Brigitte's situation. It's also like combining Girl Interrupted with werewolves which is kind of awesome.

But here's the thing about this drug addiction concept. When I first read the synopsis I pictured in my head some mass hysteria involving Brigitte turning into a werewolf and slowly but surely, the patients and staff would be killed by some beast. This would be the predictable route. However--Ginger Snaps 2 does NOT go there. It instead continues to keep its focus on Brigitte and on the nature of her disease and her desire to stop it. The film does not sacrifice the story line and more importantly the characterization, in order to make the film more entertaining. Bonus points all over the place.

The other reason that makes Ginger Snaps 2 completely awesome is of course the presence of Emily Perkins. Why is she so amazing? I have no clue--but this girl can act. Why isn't she in more things, and more importantly--did you know she's 33?! Not during this but still...she wasn't 17 or whatever. But damn she has some DEPTH, and it blows my mind throughout the entire film. I guess I could be considered as an impartial judge to which Ginger Snaps is better--but I don't know. I think Emily Perkins makes Ginger Snaps 2 slightly if not much more better than the first. After all, my only real complaint with the first film was that it needed MORE Emily Perkins. Wish granted.

There's a lot of people divided on the ending of Ginger Snaps 2 however and to be honest I'm kind of on the fence. One of things people told me about Ginger Snaps 2 whether they loved or hated it, was that the ending was depressing. I didn't necessarily find the ending to be depressing (unless if by depressing they meant, annoying) but after doing more thinking about it, I don't necessarily hate it. In my head I envisioned something much different, like something perhaps with suicide or what have you--but what we got stayed true to Ginger Snaps 2 an its overall philosophy of the true nature of being a beast. It adds once more to the intelligence surrounding the film and once again doesn't sacrifice its themes for entertainment purposes. So I don't know. I JUST DON'T KNOW. Topic for the comments I suppose.

Overall, Ginger Snaps 2 is a truly surprising sequel. There's a lot to think about and a lot to love. It's unbelievably well written and for once dialogue is natural AND oddly hilarious at the same time. Sure, the overall cool darkness of the Fitzgerald sisters is absent--but Ginger Snaps 2 is mature. This is fitting because if you recall, Ginger Snaps had a lovely subtopic framed around the idea of menstruation and growing up. Consider Ginger Snaps 2 an ultimate portrayal of life once you realize that you're grown up and have to you know...do things for yourself. So maybe we aren't turning into wolves. But we are paying bills, student loans and trying to find a job so that our cats won't die. Same thing basically.

My advice to you is watch Ginger Snaps 2. Tis awesome, surprising and a real lesson in how to make a sequel not completely blow. Plus there are wolves. And a strange masturbation scene. And funniness. And AWESOME things. Just watch it. That is all.

The Company of Wolves: Beware the Unibrow

I realized the other day that it had been a very long time since my last werewolf film. A quick look at the archives tells me that the last one was Dog Soliders back in June..! Yikes. I wonder what is responsible for my sudden decline in one of my favorite subgenres. I bet it's because great werewolf movies aren't that easy to come by. I've seen all the important ones already so that means no others had been recommended. I had only known about The Company of Wolves because I read Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber in college. I'm not sure why it took me so long to realize that I needed to see this film, but I'm thinking it had to do with how creeped out I was by the idea of Little Red Riding Hood being seduced by the wolf when I had originally read the story.

In fact, I'm still marginally creeped out by that and further more, what some of the hidden implications behind one of my favorite fairy tales really is. Aside from this, I'm insanely pleased that I saved this movie for my New Years Day movie. It's such an interesting, and tantalizing film. The atmosphere created is one that brings such a strange air of fantasy despite much of it looking rather plain. I would even go so far as to say that the environment created in The Company of Wolves far outshines the attempted fantastical, wonder that is Tim Burton's Wonderland.

For plot's sake, The Company of Wolves takes place entirely inside the dream world of Rosaleen. She dreams she lives in a fairy tale land where her sister has been killed by a pack of wolves. After spending time with her grandmother, Rosaleen learns of the truth behind the wolves,

and soon experiences their company on her own. The story largely uses the original fairy tale but adds a certain...sexual intrigue that I'm sure would make my grandmother quite uncomfortable. Oh all right fine it made me uncomfortable. I can't help it if I do not like bushy eyebrows.

I will start by saying two words to you; Angela Lansbury.

How can you not love her? My sister would be peeing her pants right now if she knew that I watched something featuring Jessica Fletcher and did not tell her. I don't blame her, Angela is cute as a button and makes the perfect feisty grandmother of Little Red Riding Hood. I screamed out loud at the end of the film watching something involving her....head and I may even have cried but we don't need to hear about those sorry details.

I wasn't sure if I would love The Company of Wolves when it first began. I got a strong vibe of TV movie, and I kept getting confused about the sudden jump in time periods, and dream worlds. I'm still not entirely convinced that the presence of the modern day was necessary. It's not really ever visited again save for the last shot of the wolf coming through the window. I would normally claim that such an ending is necessary to tie it all together and make some sort of comparison to the story and Rosaleen's dreams but in this case--I don't think that's true. We have all the comparison that we need solely because Rosaleen IS Rosaleen in her dream.

I'm thinking the added presence of the modern world and Rosaleen's dream was to explain the presence of the somewhat bizarre landscape of the environment.

The boa constrictors in the trees for instance, and the giant toadstools. I have mixed feelings about the decision to do this. On one hand it opens up the world nicely for a completely free form of narrative. On the other, it suggests that we aren't imaginative enough to just accept that this is the world in which our story takes place and yes--it is fantastic. I'm pretty confident in saying that I would have enjoyed The Company of Wolves much more if the dream world was the only world.

Perhaps most surprising is the impressive array of special effects and makeup done in this film. I was blown away by more than a few scenes involving a transformation and I was even startled by a particular scene that kind of made me want to vomit.

I absolutely loved how violent the transformations were. Not just violent in a painful way but literally...skin tore off--it's brilliant! For some reason I had assumed that The Company of Wolves was one of those PG films that could be classified as a horror film if only for the scarring nature it had impacted upon younger minds. I'm always making stupid judgments like that but The Company of Wolves straightened me out quite well.

It makes sense of course seeing as how all these tales originally had darker intentions and that Angela Carter's story wasn't exactly a bedtime staple. There's all sorts of grotesque and horrifyingly beautiful elements that I briefly considered making this entire post a photo essay.

BUT I didn't. Obviously. Still, what a delicious feast for the eyes huh? I suppose no matter what context, a blood red cape shown over a snowy landscape will always be powerful.

Speaking of blood red capes, if you really want to get your childhood destroyed, you can read about the symbolism behind Red Riding Hood's cape. The story has often been seen as a sexual sort of metaphor. The red cape symbolizes her hymen being punctured (sorry gross choice of word) or her you know...PERIOD. Or something. When the wolf advances on Red Riding Hood he is threatening her virginity of all things. Clearly, The Company of Wolves focuses on this aspect as the wolf she meets is very much a man and his advances are needless to say, uncomfortable.

Also, the burning of her clothes is a lovely way to show the shedding of her former self, her youth and even her human skin.

While the ending of the film was sudden, I did much prefer it to the happy ending we are all familiar with. Sure I myself may have not chosen to become a wolf--although on second thought living next door to a boy that looked like this

and wanted to do seduce me

probably would have also driven me to such an end. While we're on the subject didn't this kid remind you of Alice from the Brady Bunch? He reminds me of some kind of woman but I can't put my finger on it.

Anywho, I deeply loved The Company of Wolves. I loved the stories interwoven between the main narrative.

I loved the landscape of the fairy tale land. I even loved that horrible part where all those mini tarantulas fell from the ceiling and onto Rosaleen's bible. There's really so much to love about The Company of Wolves and I'm so glad I had not completely given up on finding another werewolf movie to gush about. Beware the man who has a unibrow---honestly, I could have told you that Red.

Dog Soldiers: Umm Thanks For the Letter Opener...But On Our Camping Trip?

There is nothing beautiful about Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers-- and with good reason. A war movie with werewolves has the unique ability to remain bloody and gruesome with some added pep and terror from a refreshing tribe of werewolves that have nothing to do with CGI. Yeah I might be running on in my sentences--but I have to if I'm going to talk about werewolves AND soldiers. I've always been quite wary of war movies for more than enough reasons. For one, the anticipation of the battle scenes loom over my head for the duration of the film, and in some cases, well after I view it. These films have the uncanny ability to deeply concern your life and emotions with the characters they are showing you. This makes certain deaths unbearable to say the least, and sometimes, like when you are obsessed with Morgan Freeman, you would rather DIE than know that a certain battle will claim his life.

Sigh.

But because Dog Soldiers combines the war genre with the horror genre, this dread diminishes slightly. Dog Soldiers follows a group of soldiers during a routine training exercise. After they happen across the violent yet still alive remains of the sergeant of special forces, the group becomes under attack by some growling beasts. After being saved by a woman and taken to her secluded house in the woods, the group soon finds that they are up against a very violent, and no nonsense group of werewolves.

One amazing thing that I can't seem to get over when thinking about the film- is how well it tackles both genres evenly and thoroughly. While many would think that brutal, gory violence is something oft seen in horror, one must not forget that it is the war movies that portray the real, nitty-gritty, down and dirty, completely disgusting and raw elements of gore. I've always found it funny that people get so down on horror movies for being so gory and violent when war movies are the most violent kind of film out there. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the extent to which the gore is shown in this film is brought on by the war movie side and NOT the horror movie side.

Pretty wild I know.

I have to say I loved the quick shots of the werewolves when things were still a bit dodgy there in the beginning.

We don't get a full on shot of the werewolves until later but those quick snippets really fill you with excitement and anticipation for the moment that you may lay your eyes on those beasts. And then of course later when we get up close and personal with them, you are floored (or at least I was) by how great the makeup and costumes are.

Their unnatural height, great snarling mouths and long and hairy arms really do tend to frighten you. There is not a trace of terribly done CGI gore or wolf movement and it is extremely appreciated and even makes me a little giddy. It can be done folks!

While I did get continually frustrated by the barrage of gun fire continuously fired at our unstoppable beasts I did tend to ease up after I remembered, it IS a war movie after all. A war movie that retains the ambiance of a great horror movie--and even refreshes the werewolf genre of horror. But still---get some silver bullets already.

Perhaps my favorite thing however, is the stunning discovery that Dog Soldiers plays out just like All Quiet on the Western Front. After a while you come to realize that you're really just killing each other. Forget sides--werewolves were men once, and not only that--some of them were even former soldiers! A war/horror movie that provides commentary on the ridiculousness of war, while still being insanely entertaining AND thought provoking? It's crazy man.