Paranormal Activity - DVD out 22 March 2010

Paranormal Activity
Released on DVD and Blu-Ray 22 March 2010.

The horror phenomenon of 2009 makes its appearance on DVD with the suspense, originality and most importantly, the scare-factor all intact. In fact, in some ways the conversion does the movie a favour - viewed in one’s home the movies subtleties and old-school chills come out into their own. One more point on this, the soundtrack is integral and deserves to be heard through a decent speaker system if the viewer is lucky enough to have one…

The plot itself is a fairly familiar tale of haunting and possession. Barely leaving the middle-class suburban house that is central to the film, the story follows a young couple’s nocturnal disturbances with a seemingly demonic presence that centres upon Katie, a student who has past experience with the paranormal.

Where the film differs – although sharing mood, atmosphere and some stylistic tricks - from a past classic such as Poltergeist or The Exorcist – is that Katie’s boyfriend Micah chooses to film the couple’s sleeping patterns on his fancy new camera in an attempt to understand what is going on. It is his footage that makes up what we see on screen.

Of course, this sort of ‘real’ footage as well as the police notes at the beginning and end of the movie (and the use of the actor’s real names) brings to mind another earlier horror phenomenon, The Blair Witch Project. Many sources have drawn unfavourable comparison between the two; and there is no getting around the fact that Activity borrows heavily from that film. Even some of the initial hype and Internet based marketing campaigns were similar. Certainly, it cannot be claimed that Activity is anywhere near as original as that previous movie.

However, for my money it is a more effective horror movie. Director Oren Peli is clearly a fan and in effect what he has done is a stripped down, minimal version of Blair Witch. In the final analysis it completely works as a scary movie - it produces enough jumps in its 90 minutes to fully deserve its reputation. The fixed set-up of one camera focused on a sleeping couple with unknown threat lurking is what stays in the memory. Like all great ideas it is a seemingly simple one – and one that probably every aspiring filmmaker wishes they had had first.

Note. The DVD comes with an alternate ending added as an extra. (This is Peli’s original ending which Spielberg’s producers decided to alter when it was realised that it ruled out the possibility of a money-spinning – and almost inevitably crappy sequel (PA 2 is being made by the bloke that did Saw IV. Nuff said…) There is also another version of the ending haunting the internet as well.)

Robert Monk

Katalin Varga DVD released 22 Feb 2010

Peter Strickland’s mesmerising, timeless revenge thriller is a stunningly original debut and one that will surely garner an appreciative DVD audience.

The British auteur has meshed an intelligent and humanist work with a relentless, story structure filled with memorable, taut scenes. When at times it seems as if the narrative is about to veer off course, it always comes straight back with a precise, distilled form of suspense. It is by no means a ‘thrill-ride’ of a movie – it is after all a film with it’s roots in the art-house - but the intensity of the journey is gripping and stands up favourably to repeated viewings. The cinematography is at once impressive; beautifully capturing the dreamy pathways and surreal shadows that lie in wait in the Eastern European landscape of the Carpathians.

The film deals with crime; the nature of crime, the nature of revenge and, of course, punishment. In essence, it’s a Dostoyevskian folk-tale set in the Romanian countryside; a curious world where horse drawn carts mingle with mobile phones. It is also a profoundly sad piece, a study of how frail and fickle human relationships are and how men regularly mistreat and abuse women with depressing predictability.

Our protagonist (a strong, commanding performance from Hilda Péter)had been raped by two men in the past. This brutal incident results in a child, who Katalin brings up with her husband as their own. When the truth (which she has been hiding for ten years) comes to her husband’s attention he casts her out, unwilling or unable to cope with the facts of his son’s parentage. Katalin vows revenge on the rapists and, taking her only son in her old-fashioned wagon, she sets off down the road to find them and...to kill them.

It is a challenging film – one that challenges our idea of justice and right and wrong. Father figures switch places, police officers are unknowable and friends appear as enemies. In many ways a bleak film; then, implying as it does that in the end personal morality (no matter how twisted) is better than none at all, but a powerful film never the less and, ultimately, an enormously satisfying one.

My Top Films of 2009! another list.

Yeah I know. Another list. Fuckin' Joy. Does anyone actually give a shit what ANYONE thinks anymore? Well anyway. Hold onto yo hats, folks. Here we go! It's my favourite films of the year.


1)Let the Right One In -
Cold. Supernatural sort of love story. The Anti-Twilight? Dunno, but beautiful, moving and original. My film of the year.

2)The White Ribbon -
Superlative exercise in unease from master of disquiet Haneke. Village of the Damned meets Downfall.

3)Fish Tank -
Proof that British social-realist cinema is alive and in good hands with Andrea Arnold's second feature after Red Road. Impressive debut from Katie Jarvis in gritty Essex drama from Ken Loach's natural heir.

4)Katalin Varga -
Romanian set revenge drama from another talented Brit Peter Strickland. Tightly scripted, pacey and powerful.

5)District 9 -
The South African Sci Fi movie of the year (er, usually so many to choose from!) Fuckin' Prawns.

6) Antichrist -
Grim discourse on the nature of marriage. Featuring genitial abuse and er, a talking fox. Dig deep enough under Von Trier's weirdo nods and winks and the shock factor and you're left with a though provoking dreamlike movie.

7)Paranormal Activity -
People seemed to enjoy knocking this a bit... it's not boring - that's tension! Does what it should - with shades of The Exorcist and Blair Witch. Nice to see a well made supernatural film which isn't for children or muppets anyway.

8)Star Trek -
Blockbuster that reespects the francise and enhances it. To my mind better than any of the previous Trek movies. A lot of fun.

9) Drag Me To Hell -
Sam Raimi does what he's best at, doing the horror/comedy thing. Less slapstick that Evil Dead trilogy but still pretty cartoonish. Also a deliciously twisted ending that was hilarious in it's audacity. Another great horror movie !

10) The Hurt Locker -
I'm not normally big on war movies but I couldn't ignore this Iraq drama . Scary, intense. Looks beyond the macho grimness of the soldier life. It'll probably clean up at the Oscars next year... Jeremy Renner will become a huge star .

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Me and Orson Welles - Released 4 Dec

Effortlessly imagining the heady world of 1930s New York theatre, Richard Linklaker’s (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) follow up to the disappointing Fast Food Nation, is an engaging and smartly scripted coming of age trip through the drama of life on the stage.

Teen song and dance man Zac Efron (High School Musical, 17 Again) is undoubtedly the main draw as a young actor who gets his dream break with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre Company. In just one week, Efron’s green but determined Richard Samuels goes from star-struck wannabe to Broadway debuting Shakespearian actor. Along the way he finds romance with an older, sophisticated theatre assistant (Claire Danes) and painfully witnesses at first hand the mysteries of Welles’ genius and artistic temperament.

First of all Efron is fine – likeable and lively as the wide-eyed innocent, he brings a vitality to the role that his young fans will surely appreciate. Not exactly a stretch of a character for him, but one that he plays to good effect. And of course, his hair and teeth look great.

The film is, however, all about the magic of Orson Welles and the storming performance of newcomer Christian McKay, who manages to capture Welles’ every nuance and tick with alarming accuracy. From the first bellowed boom of the famous Wellsian tones McKay announces his arrival on screen as a major talent. His Orson is fantastic; funny, erudite, charismatic, manic and hugely intelligent. In short, the movie is worth going to see on the strength of this performance/impression alone.
Strong support from a cast including Brits Eddie Marsden (so good in Mike Leigh’s recent Happy Go Lucky) and Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line) lends an extra bit of class to an already high quality production but in truth this is McKay’s – and Orson’s – show. The story is lightweight stuff and the style and tone will not win any awards for originality. What sets it apart is McKay’s extraordinary portrayal. Once again Orson is the star of the show, which is, of course, the only way he would have had it.

Rob Monk

Haneke's The White Ribbon - released 13 November

The White Ribbon
dir Michael Haneke
released 13 November

The gifted and controversial Haneke follows up his American remake of Funny Games with this Palme D’Or grabbing psychological thriller. Revealing dark questions of the human condition very much characteristic of the filmmaker’s probing intellect, The White Ribbon is a creepily disturbing psychodrama that effortlessly plays on societies’ fears of abusive authority and hidden evil.

Shot entirely in black and white; all expressionist shadows and brooding menace, the film follows the strange events and apparent accidents that trouble a rural school and farming community in 1913 North Germany. A narrator, (identified later as the young schoolmaster), links the events in the film with Germany’s history in the first half of the 20th century and although not overtly pointed out, it is the rise of fascism that Haneke is concerned with here.

The village is one big cess-pit of fear and paranoia - of abusers and the abused and of hate born of ignorance and out of control authority. A laugh-riot it most certainly is not. But a more high minded and emotionally challenging movie will not be delivered this year. Grueling, intense and displaying steely eyed focus, The White Ribbon marks a high point for modern European cinema.

Rob Monk