{"id":4079,"date":"2012-01-10T15:25:25","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T20:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=2786"},"modified":"2012-01-10T15:25:25","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T20:25:25","slug":"horror-tales-desert-noir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4079","title":{"rendered":"Horror Tales + Desert Noir"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Normally I\u2019d blather a bit about the thematically grouped film reviews that are now live, but I\u2019m coming down with a cold thingy, and until the mega-dosing of Vitamin C & ginseng kick in, I\u2019m condensing two posts into one, and keeping things brief (which may actually please readers wanting less blather, and just the facts).<\/p>\n

First up is a trio of horror films:<\/p>\n

–Apollo 18<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (U.S.: Anchor Bay; Can: Alliance) \u2013 a great technical accomplishment, but a fine example of bungled storytelling.<\/p>\n

– Bereavement<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (Anchor Bay): Stevan Mena\u2019s follow-up to his slasher debut Malevolence is heavy on mood, but its split storylines make for a schizophrenic movie. At least the HD transfer is downright superb.<\/p>\n

–Final Destination 5<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (Warner Home Video): the sick & twisted franchise moves on, and patient fans are rewarded with a really fun ride full of outrageously choreographed mayhem. A big plus is the classical film direction, and Brian Tyler\u2019s final cue is freaking awesome.<\/p>\n

Secondly, desert noir:<\/p>\n

–South of Heaven<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (Synapse Films): I kept setting this one aside due to an assumption it was a minor slasher vehicle. Not so, and fans of pulpy tales with graphic novel sensibilities should give Jonathan Vara\u2019s gem a chance. It\u2019s a strange hybrid that amazingly works, and Shea Whigham (Lincoln Lawyer, Boardwalk Empire) is amazing to watch as he goes full method on a character that\u2019s part noir, part Tex Avery. Shame on me for waiting so long to watch the DVD.<\/p>\n

–Delusion<\/strong><\/a> [M<\/a>]: older readers might know I\u2019m referring to Carl Colpaert\u2019s nifty noir film, but everyone else will probably chime in with a coordinated \u2018Huh?\u2019 Released on VHS and laserdisc, this lost film deserves a proper rediscovery on Blu. Great cast, cool pacing, and assured direction makes it a shame Colpaert later focused more on producing that directing. Co-star Jennifer Rubin was never better, and the use of Barry Adamson music works swell for this clever little suspense film.<\/p>\n

Coming soon: soundtrack reviews, and reviews of Jan Kadar\u2019s Lies My Father Told Me (1975) and Adrift (1971).<\/p>\n

Hopefully coming soon: better health, because this bouncing negative-positive temperature swing in Toronto is making everyone sick. Dear Mother Nature: Will you please make up your mind this month?<\/em><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com <\/strong>( Main Site<\/a> \/ Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cluster upload of 3 horror films on Blu-ray from late 2011: Apollo 18 (Anchor Bay U.S.), Bereavement (Anchor Bay Canada), and Final Destination 5 (Warner Home Video), plus two unique desert noir films: one’s only available widescreen on laserdisc – Carl Colpaert’s superb Delusion from 1991 – and the other’s a hard to pin down hybrid of noir, comic book crime, and a live-action Itchy & Scratchy cartoon – Jonathan Vara’s South of Heaven (Synapse).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[999,1000,1001,1002,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-13N","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}