Recently in Supernatural/Occult Category

Directed by Marc Foster. Starring:Maria Bello, Sean Bean, Sophie Stuckey, Abigail Stone. Synopsis: A woman and her daughter move to Wales to be with her husband and experience tragedy when the child dies accidentally. In dealing with her grief, yet not accepting it, the mother learns of the history and legend of the house she now inhabits and the fate of another little girl that is similar to hers, yet happened a half century earlier. Her foray into the supernatural leads her to encounter the long dead girl in the flesh and an effort to reconnect with her own daughter from beyond the grave.

The main thing that will strike anyone watching this movie is the beautiful scenery and the videography which provides the setting and backdrop of this movie. Set in Wales, it involves a mother (Mario Bello) and her daughter (Sophie Stuckey) who come to Britain from America for the purpose of living with their husband/father, played very well by Sean Bean. 

The family reunion takes a turn for the tragic when the child dies suddenly in an accident. The relationship between Maria Bello's character and Sean Bean's, already strained, becomes more problematic when Maria becomes obsessed with the history of the home in which they are living, Welsh legend, and the ghost of a little girl named Ebrill (Abigail Stone) who died a half century before in that home and, coincidentally, resembles her dead child a great deal.

The journey into Welsh legend soon pays off as Ebrill appears to the grieving parents in the flesh, a fact which convinces Maria Bello that it is possible that she can still bring back her daughter, if she can solve the riddle of the passage between the world of the living and the dead as it is told in the ancient Welsh lore.

From there the film takes several flashbacks to the death and life of Ebrill, and we are tantalized with the tidbits of her grieving and psychotic father who, in the aftermath of Ebrill's death coaxed numerous other villagers to take a "Jim Jones Kool-Aid" type plunge off the prodigious cliff that is the centerpiece of the village.

We are also treated to a recurrent undercurrent theme of sheep, and their implied mystical knowledge and/or effect on the dead that bee bop between the living and the dead. The cinematic portrayal and videography, indeed, deserve special kudos. This is a beautifully shot movie.

My big problem with this film is the story line and the conclusion. Without intentionally spoiling it for anyone who has not seen it, I would say that the acting in this movie is very good. Maria Bello is captivating and believable, and I was glad to see her in a role where she was not getting brutalized or psuedo raped by her own husband, as she was recently in Secret Window and History of Violence.  Sean Bean is the best here, the most empathetic and the character with whom makes the most sense. The two young ladies are also wonderful. Its just the script that I have a problem with here. Its not bad, but it could have been better and more coherent. A little clearer explanation of the Welsh legend would have been in order. Is the place the dead go a version of Hades, Heaven, or something in between? When people come back from the dead, are they changed or the same? Do they owe something to those that have gone in order to bring them back?

Another tenet of this movie is the supposed bad parenting of Maria Bello, which is I would guess set up to make her ultimate sacrifice all the more appealing. It just doesn't work for me. As someone who has dealt professionally with instances of child abuse in real life, I'm not buying a one time slap in he face of a smart mouthed pre-teen as apocalyptically as the movie seems to want me to. 

Also, the recurring theme of the sheep is something that I knew I was supposed to "get", but I just didn't. It is very possible that sheep are a mystical figure in Welsh lore, but if I don't know that,  there is not much in the movie to tell me why they are. This is not a big deal, but the movie is built on this premise in large part.

The ending of the movie, while predictable (c'mon, if you are any kind of a movie buff, you know from the first time that you see a majestic shot of that beautiful cliff, you can be your life someone is going off of it) doesn't work well but not because the ending is predictable. It just doesn't work or answer the questions brought up by the movie itself. Those who see this on DVD will be treated to an alternate ending that is, in my opinion, significantly better than the one that was used. This is the case primarily because it ends the film where it should have, and does not go on for five minutes too long and give us a conclusion that is inconsistent with where the film was going the whole time.

The Dark is a serious attempt at a serious story that is worth your while, but probably won't be the best movie you have seen of its type or genre.  If you pick it up you will enjoy it to a degree, but it won't make any of your "all time" lists. At least, that is what I think.    

Directed by Iain Softley. Starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Joy Bryant. Drama/Thriller/Horror Synopsis: A suspense laden thriller about a young hospice care nurse who goes to work on a plantation in a rural Louisiana town, where she begins to think that the invalid man she is taking care of might be a victim of his eccentric wife.

Now, this is one that just kind of takes your breath away. Awesome story, well directed, beautifully shot, great soundtrack, and outstanding actors. Other than that, nothing much to write home about. The film starts with us being introduced to Caroline (Kate Hudson), an idealistic young hospice nurse who is disillusioned at the uncaring nature of her profession in the big city and answers an ad to become a live-in caregiver at a antebellum plantation home in a rural parrish.

The matron of the home, Violet Devereaux (Gena Rowlands Gloria) seems reluctant and somewhat cool to Caroline at first, but is persuaded because of Caroline's diligence and the recommendation of family lawyer Luke (Peter Sarsgaard) to give her the job. Caroline accepts, much to the surprise of her roommate and best friend Jill (Joy Bryant) and assumes the major responsibility for the care of Ben Devereaux (John Hurt The Elephant Man), an invalid who cannot speak.

Caroline senses immediately that things are a little out of the ordinary at the Devereaux home, what with their being no mirrors anywhere in the huge place and her increasing realization that Violet is a believer in the back waters superstitions associated with voodoo. And, to top it off, there is a room in the house that Caroline is told not to enter, it cannot even be opened with the skeleton key, which opens all other rooms. Well, Caroline, just like any of us, is curious about that room and the secrets it holds.

As she gets to know Ben, Caroline cannot help but feel that he is trying to communicate with her, and that what he is trying to communicate is a fear...and that fear is of his wife. Caroline initially attributes this to the fact that Ben, as violet obviously does, believes in the superstitions and that is the cause of his inexplicable inability to speak. We see her steep herself in voodoo lore and beliefs, in order to convince Ben that she can "rid" him of the demons that he believes spook him. Of course, she comes to the conclusion along the way that Violet really does mean Ben harm, and resolves to get him away from her. She shares her concerns with Luke, and we have a suspenseful drama that will keep you hooked to the very end and, I promise, surprise you with the outcome.

Now, readers of this blog will know that I never spoil a flick when I talk about it here (unless, of course, I just feel like it)  and I won't do that here. Lets just say that the great majority of folks-say, about 90%-won't figure this one out until it hits us in the face in the last five minutes of the movie. The great thing is, we are not even sure that it is a movie where we have to figure it out until the end. 

Suffice it to say, everyone in this movie, at the end, is not who they appeared to be. And, yes, the movie is consistent so when you go back to watch it again, the director and script played by the rules: no holes, you had the chance to see what was coming, the answer was there the whole time, no paradoxes. In other words, wonderful.  

The film is fast paced, with no wasted scenes or characters. It captures a flavor of New Orleans and Louisiana that any one who has been there will be able to appreciate. What makes this movie stand out, of course, like all movies that stand out, is the script and the acting. There are really only 5 main characters, and even within that, Joy Bryant's Jill is not onscreen very much, although she plays an important part in the story, particularly the ending. The minor characters, especially in the flashback scene to the lynching of the voodoo practicing servant couple that spawned the lengends, are spooky and supberb.

But, with any film that is so character driven, there is even more pressure on the leads and Hudson and Rowlands both deliver big time. We see almost the entire film through the eyes of Hudson's character, so it is vital that we like and empathize with her, and we do. Its apparent that she has prodigious talent. Gena Rowlands is one of those actors who everyone knows is good, and we wonder why we don't see more of her. (I know what some of you are saying: Hollywood doesn't have many good roles for females over 35. You're right, of course, but don't get me started)  She has a performance for the ages in this one, just as good-although a much different type of role-as the role she is most known for in Gloria. She is majestic, spooky, evil, conniving, vulenrable, and definitely attractive in middle age in this role. She puts it all together.

Not to short change the boys, Sarsgaard and Hurt are awesome as well, its just that the two female leads are the ones driving this train. Sarsgaard is starting to have the "Malcolm McDowell" effect on me. That is, whenever I see his name as a character in  a movie, I just know that his character, if not the whole flick, is going to be...different. And usually pretty good. You just know the whole time that there is something that just doesn't quite fit with this nice young lawyer who seems to just have one client...but, as I said earlier, its not what you think it might be. Or, if you're sharper than me (no great accomplishment) maybe it is what you think it is.

John Hurt deserves special mention, certainly no surprise given his body of work. It is amazing that an actor can have the effect and communicate the feelings of the character so well without speaking. I think some of you, after you watch the movie, will be amazed when you realize he has no dialogue. I mean, you will know he doesn't, it just won't feel that way because he does such a good job.

And, as if a good movie wasn't enough, there are awesome special features on the DVD. You will see behind the scenes footage, deleted scenes, plus shorts with Hurt, Hudson, and Rowlands dealing with some aspect of voodoo, legend, history and one personal real life ghost story. Further, there are two very informative segments on voodoo and the plantation life in antebellum Louisiana. I love this kind of stuff and I bet you will, too.

Same goes for the movie.   

Directed by John Shiban. Starring Jamie Alexander, Deanna Russo, Joseph Lawrence, Diane Salinger, Michael Childers, Joey Mendicino.  Horror.  Synopsis: A young woman and her boyfriend looking to run away from their home in Texas and go to California are terrozied at a deserted and haunting rest stop by a crazed driver of a truck with floodlights as well as supernatural apparitions.

Those of you who are baseball fans and watch it on TV are very familiar with the refrain, "a swing and a miss!" and that phrase aptly describes Rest Stop, an obvious attempt at making a good, thought provoking horror flick with the necessary gore to satisfy the bloodthirsty fans of the genre, but the film just plain misses, in my book.

The plot is simple and in tune with the primary formula of the horror genre: young people in distress in a remote, deserted location. Nicole (Jamie Alexander) and Jess (Joey Mendicino) are a couple who are going to take off from their homes and families in Texas and hoof it west to California.  Not too much time is given in explanation, which might have added some more depth to the characters or made us empathize with them more, although you do get the impression that Nicole is on the spoiled side.

Well, anyway, at some point prior to getting to the environs of L.A., the two are in a fairly desolate portion of California's desert area when Nicole decides she has to pee, as people are wont to do on occasion.

She enters a truly disgusting rest stop area bathroom-passing an outside bulletin board that is chalked full of more missing persons signs than anyone will see in a year- and goes in to do her thing. Now, I should say that we as the viewers have seen this rest stop latrine before, in the opening scenes a young woman dressed right out of the '70's goes in there and is assaulted by an unseen stranger who comes up to her bathroom stall door. No further information is given, but we know that it will hook up with the main plot again, somewhow.

Anyway, Nicole makes a choice that no other sane woman with any sense of hygiene would and uses the facilities there, noticing some cryptic things written on the stall door. Well, whatever...but things spice up a little when she leaves the bathroom and Jess and the vehicle is no where to be seen.

As you might guess, this is somewhat perturbing but not nearly so much as when the mysterious pickup truck later drives near Nicole and tosses Jess' bloody cell phone out the window. Now Nicole "thinks that something might have happened to Jess", the obviously understated phrase she uses when trying to call for help on the CB radio she finds in an abandoned office near the rest stop (in addition to a bottle of bourbon that she slams down while waiting for help...in addition to looking at a porno movie...I'm not kidding)

There is an RV which has been present and in plain view of the rest stop area since the beginning of Nicole's ordeal, and Nicole did go there, but no one answered, despite the clear sound and flash of a camera clicking away inside. Hmmm.

Now, Nicole's situation started off in broad daylight, but as time goes by, and it begins to get dark so she has a decision to make. Should she go to the highway and start walking, hoping to flag down a Good Samaritan or someone with a flippin' phone? Should she maybe give the folks in the RV another try? How about another shot on the CB to try to raise someone a little closer than two hundred miles away (which you might think she could do in the most populous state in the country)? 

Nope! Its back to the bathroom for Nicole only this time she has company...in the form of a young woman trapped in a room behind a partially open door in the bathroom (again, I'm serious) who tells wild wooly tales of a man in a truck who has tortured her. Her name is Tracy (Deanna Russo) and, prior to regurgitating copious amounts of blood and showing Nicole her hands with several severed fingers, she does ask how long she (Tracy) has been there. Well, we know from the movie that Tracy, the girl from the opening scenes as well, was last seen in 1971 so she has been there a while...and aged well, which is to say not at all.

Now, I won't go blow by blow here, except to say Nicole will eventually run into the family in the RV, headed by a middle aged husband (Michael Childers) who spouts bible verses and a wife (Diane Salinger) who spouts profanities at Nicole. They have twin sons who seem to do everything in unison and another son who is a deformed dwarf that takes pictures constantly. O.k., they are creepy but only in the story for a few minutes and I can't tell you what they have to do with anything.

Nicole  also finally meets up with a police officer who answered her initial call over the radio. Now, this officer (Joseph Lawrence), though clean cut and fairly cordial, is no Sherlock Holmes, folks. He actually goes up to the mysterious truck and gives the unseen tormentor directions after Nicole has told him that the truck driver is the bad guy. He probably regretted this a few minutes later when the truck runs him over while he is inexplicably standing in the middle of the road, shooting the breeze with Nicole.

Not to worry, he survives for a while, long enough to give some long winded and unnecessary dying speech about his family and imploring Nicole to shoot the bad guy....oh, and of course, Nicole drags him to the bathroom....

Listen, I think this movie was a legitimate effort at putting together an interesting story and, if you see this on DVD-the only place where you will probably ever be able to see it-its clearer what they were trying to do. The actors are saddled with a silly script and ridiculous dialogue at times. The best way to sum it up is that no one makes any sense. Its hard to empathize with our heroine when she does such stupid things. (When the trooper is laying in the middle of the road and the truck driver gets out of his truck to chain up the cop's motorcycle and drive off-coming within feet of Nicole and the prone cop-why not take the cop's gun and try to shoot him then instead of waiting to try this when they are barricaded in the bathroom?) 

I know that good movies often don't explain everything, leaving it to us to try to figure it out (Silent Hill and Basic Instinct come to mind) but, we've got to have enough information to form a theory...for example, if the rest stop is a metaphor for hell or another dimension or whatever, how did-not to mention why-Nicole and Tracey get there? And at the end, are the throng of people milling around the now populated rest stop when we meet the next victim part of this supernatural thing? They don't seem to be. If it's not supernatural, how does the truck driver keep running over people and ramming into things with not even a dent in the truck? What happened to all of that blood Tracey puked up and where did the cop's body disappear to? Or is this just all in Nicole's mind? If the strange family was part of this, why did they let Nicole go? If they were not, what was the point? I don't know, too open ended for me.

Gore/torture scene lovers will find plenty here to cheer about, however. I don't mind those two things, but when they are up there with an absence of explanation or depth of character or plot, its just not as effective. Sort of like sex without love, you know? O.k., back on point: I'm not putting this in the dud category...barely, because there was a serious and professional attempt to entertain and be provacative, it just didn't work.

So, if you asked me, I wouldn't recommend Rest Stop. 

Of course, I realize that you didn't ask me.   

Directed by Lucky McKee.Starring Patricia Clarkson, Agnes Bruckner, Rachel Nichols, Bruce Campbell. Horror/Drama. Synopsis:A troubled young girl is sent to a boarding school that is located next to some woods that harbor old and supernatural secrets.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I was primarily interested in picking it up because it had Patricia Clarkson (The Dead Pool, The Green Mile)  who is an actress that I like but have not seen in many leading roles. I also like horror, which this film was billed as, though I don't know if that is really the best fit for it as it is mostly a drama with tinges of mystery and some horror, with a dose of pure camp and references/homage to the sub genre of "girls in boarding school/prison" theme which specializes in pure titillation. But, The Woods does not go all the way with any of these themes. 

The plot of the film concerns a troubled teen girl named Heather (Agnes Bruckner) who has some issues, including pyromania, an inattentive mother, and the voices she hears. As such, mom and Dad (Bruce Campbell) elect to place her in a remote, yet supposedly elite, boarding school.

Well, Heather, not to mention the viewers, immediately sense that something is not quite right with this school and its Gothic setting next to some foreboding woods. And that does not even take into account the faculty, a group of women who are courteous without emotion and, well, strange. Chief among those is the headmistress, Ms. Traverse (Clarkson). Right from the beginning, Heather seems to be a square peg in a round hole here, befriending only a couple of other misfits in the school, where the girls all seem to bunk down in the same room. And, of course, whenever a protagonist goes into a new school against his/her will in cinema, you know there will be a chief tormentor and, true to form, there is here. Her name is Samantha (Rachel Nichols G.I. Joe: Rise Of Cobra) and she has a strong dislike, in addition to an implied attraction, for Heather from the start, leading to a couple pf physical altercations.

But, the story does not really follow or develop that plot line, as Heather stays in the school and realizes that her parents will not come get her, other strange things happen, chiefly the disappearance of some of the students, which is troubling because no one seems to be overly concerned.

At this point, Heather begins to learn the history of the school and the dark legends of the neighboring woods, with tales shrouded in a belief in witchcraft.

For me, the first part of the film, though relatively slow moving, is the more interesting and better scripted. When things start to pick up in the second part of the movie with regard to pace, it becomes kind of jumbled and harder to follow the plot. Having said that, I can't say that it is an uninteresting film. It is certainly not scary or the kind of movie that will keep you on edge or surprise you, but you can be entertained.

I knew nothing of Bruckner prior to seeing this flick, but I was impressed with her work here as she needs to carry the story, being in almost every scene, and she does. I think Heather needs to be a head strong girl without coming across as a bad girl and Bruckner does this and there is actually some depth and different layers to her character, something you can't count on with a film that is walking the thin line of being a campy pseudo horror flick.

Patricia Clarkson didn't seem to have much to do except be the creepy, foreboding presence that flits in and out of the film until the end, when the whole truth comes out. She does this well and it's a very different type of role for her.

My chief criticism of the acting would be that this story is set in the '60's and, other than some scenes with the girls listening to a transistor radio, you really don't get the sense that this is supposed to be happening 40 years ago. These come across like Generation Y girls in school uniforms to me. But, that could be more of a criticism of the script or direction and, honestly, there are no glaring anachronisms that I saw and I'm not sure how important that is to the film, just something I wanted to share.

After all, witchcraft is timeless, isn't it?  

Directed by John Stimpson. Starring: Julia Delpy, Justin Theroux, Brooke Adams, Cassidy Hinkle, Kathleen Regan, Anna Friedman, Michele Green. Horror/Drama.  Synopsis: A couple, and their two young daughters, still reeling from the accidental death of another child, use a business opportunity to move to a rural location where the locals say the legend of a lost child from the 18th century still haunts the woods adjacent to their new home.

The Legend of Lucy Keyes is based on an actual event: the disappearance of a young child in western Massachusetts in the 1700s. Even as a former resident of Massachusetts, I had not heard of this story.

The legend is that the child-Lucy Keyes of course-went out one day to pick berries or something and never came back. No trace of her was ever found. The legend comes in that her mother wandered the neighboring woods for the rest of her life looking for her daughter and, even after death, she can be heard and/or seen searching through the woods looking for Lucy until the present day.

The movie tells the story through the eyes of a young couple (Delp and Theroux) who take an opportunity to move to the wilderness-so to speak- to take advantage of a business venture and also to have a fresh beginning after the loss of a young child to SIDS.  In their new home, they realize that they have an eccentric neighbor and a fast talking business associate (Brooke Adams). In addition, they learn of the legend of Lucy Keyes, which is particularly interesting as their young daughter is starting to have some strange experiences.

Is the ghost of the child real or is there a reasonable explanation for the noises and strange things happening in the nearby woods? And, if so, is there an ulterior motive to harrass this family, something that has nothing to do with the ghosts of an 18th century lost child and her mother haunting woods into the present?

Well, of course, I know the answer that the film provides but I'm not telling. My job is to tell you what I thought and, by extension, what I think you might think if you give this one a go. Well, it was a nice little flick, particularly considering it was shot on a shoestring budget. I can't say much more than that. The story is nice, nothing special, though I will say I thought the director did a great job with the flashback scenes to help us unravel the legend both in the past and the present. There was just nothing special about this film, which does not make it bad or anything. To me, the chance to see some good actors who are not as active as I'd like them to be is the best part of this fil.

Particularly Brooke Adams (The Dead Zone), who is really good and a little sinsiter her. Also, TV fans from the '80's will recognize Michele Green (L.A. Law) in a fairly small role. 

So I wouldn't recommend or not recommend The Legend of Lucy Keyes. If real life ghost stories are your thing, give it a chance. I think you can do better, but you can do worse, too.