Movie Appraisal: Pandorum (2009)

I don't know what it is about critics, but I rarely agree with them about horror films, except possibly the more beautiful and artistic "horror" films like Jacob's Ladder, I suppose. After watching this film, I decided to see exactly what the critics thought of it, and I was unsurprised to find that they mostly hated it. This kind of film simply is not something a film critic could ever like. I say this knowing that a lot of films I like critics seem to hate. I almost get the feeling that these critics don't like psychological horror, science fiction, action-intensive, character-driven, beautiful films... and those are the very things that drive me to fall in love with any given film.

I think very obvious comparisons can be drawn to Event Horizon. Both films enjoy very similar ideas of a spacecraft dying on a mission. Paul W. S. Anderson was also attached to both films. He directed Event Horizon and he was a producer of Pandorum. The psychological horror aspects of both films are also very obvious and, to me, very well done. As a lover of the psychological horror genre, it was no hard for me to predict everything of this movie from nearly the first moment I knew what the plot was, but it was riveting, playing with twists and turns like a crazy road leading to a creepy castle. I think I prefer Event Horizon though. I think Sam Neill really made that movie into something amazing. Dennis Quaid does a good job in his role, but I feel that he never really does enough to have this be an outstanding performance. Most of the psychological horror involves his character and he never really leaves the room he starts out in. What I'm saying is that if you want a film involving space madness and you want a good actor to be the crazy dude, I'd choose Sam Neill over Dennis Quaid every time.

The plot is basic at best, but a basic plot is still interesting. I find this film to pretty much be something like Event Horizon mixed with Mad Max (1979) and maybe having a little bit of some kind of creepy alien or monster movie in there for good measure. It's a good film with a simple premise. The actors are decent although there were times I had trouble figuring out what they were trying to say or do. I felt some of the characters motivations were spotty at best sometimes, and some of the solutions to plot points seems a little forced at times.

Any movie that deals with amnesia is always a tough one to sell. I thought this one did a good job though... kind of in the same way I thought Unknown (2006) did a decent job with the same kind of plot point. I did have to question a few things at the end, but a character actually questioned a plot hole for me, and really received no good answer. So,what I'm going to believe is that the filmmakers saw the plot hole, put the line in, and then just figured it was all cool. All right. I have no real complaints. It had bothered me before it was questioned, but having the question out there, even if the plot hole remains, makes me feel better.

I guess I have a thing for movies about dead ships, be they actual boats or spaceships. I never knew I actually had a thing for movies like that, but it really seems as though I do. I really did enjoy this film. It captivated me from start to finish. If you've ever seen Event Horizon and you liked it, you'll like this film because it's more of the same kind of thing. If you hated Event Horizon or Ghost Ship or hate the whole premise of these kinds of movies, then you're going to hate this film, guaranteed. I really liked this film. It was fun to watch and I'm glad I did get to see it.

I do have one other complaint and that's the monster/alien/mutant... things. I liked them, but I liked seeing less of them. I like the less is more style of filmmaking, and I feel that showing us these things all over the place in the second half of the film wasn't as interesting as not really seeing them and not knowing what they are like in the first half. I think that's just a personal preference though. They did look pretty damn creepy and I thought they worked well as primary antagonists, although I think that I would have rather had more explained about them or less... it felt like the filmmakers took a very middle ground and it kind of ended up with me being kind of confused and wondering exactly what was going on.

Anyway, I did like this film. I thought it was fun. It may not be the best film ever, but some of the scenes are incredibly memorable. One in particular occurs during the end with the main character, Corporal Bower (played by Ben Foster), doing some shenanigans very near a bunch of the creatures. I liked that scene a lot, thought it was very tense, very fun to watch... and I guess that's really all I can say about this film. It's a nice science fiction, psychological horror film that's fun to watch. It's never going to be the best film ever, but it works as a fun little horror flick to make one happy in these interesting days.

Movie Appraisal: Below (2002)

What a strange movie. I'm not entirely certain how I should review Below. Should I review it as a World War II movie? A submarine movie? A horror movie? A psychological horror movie? A ghost movie? Or some combination of all of those? I just don't know. I don't know what genre this movie is trying to be besides regular creepy.

Below reminds me of Event Horizon in many ways, except it's not even close to as good and is a bit more psychological in some aspects. I don't think it's a bad film per se, but it isn't a great film either. The acting shouldn't even be talked about. The characters were forgettable. The plot was a bit ridiculous. The horror wasn't fantastic (although it was decent), and the best thing this movie had going for it was the claustrophobia.

As a World War II movie, this one has just enough of that era's plot to get by. Honestly though, I can see a movie like this taking place during any era. The few parts that are really World War II era specific aren't done incredibly well. I like the era talk and what I'm supposed to believe are the era's clothing, but besides that this movie really has nothing to do with the era it supposedly is in.

As a submarine movie, it's not a bad flick, showing the claustrophobia and nervousness in such tight quarters. I actually think that the claustrophobic elements in the film are the best things in the film. Most of the imagery involving the limited space is quite well done.

This movie is not really a horror movie. Oh, it has elements of horror, but it's more a thriller... and even that is being generous. It does have a jump scare from time to time and it wants you to believe it's building up the scares for the climax, but it's not. It's just playing games and pretending to be something it isn't. Sad really.

Psychological horror? Ha! This is weaksauce psychological thriller material at absolute best. This is the kind of film that would make Jacob's Ladder laugh with rage! Anybody who even compares this film with a gem like Jacob's Ladder is confused and probably insane.

I guess there are ghosts? I don't really know... It's never explained, which is fine, but it's also not done well which isn't fine at all. I do like the banging coming from outside the submarine. I thought the sounds were very well done, but the imagery really does leave something to be desired. As a horror film it falls apart, but I think it would stand up fairly well if it were a creepy radio drama. As I said, the sounds are actually fantastic.

This is not a great film and I don't have much to say about it. It's decent, but there are so many better films out there... why would somebody watch this over any other given movie? Hell, I only watched this because I was going to watch and review The Beyond by Lucio Fulci and I couldn't because my television was in use. So, I had to freaking settles for watching this on my laptop. Yeah. That's my story for watching this piece of crap movie... Anyway, it's not unwatchable, just not great. Watch it in the background while you're doing something else and you'll have much more fun than if you're watching it.

Movie Appraisal: Event Horizon (1997)

Okay, so I know that this movie isn't particularly well liked by pretty much anybody. So, I'm going to continue being controversial and I have to say that I love this movie. Parts of it were chilling, the horror was great, and the imagery (I go back to that yet again) was FANTASTIC.

No, I'm not even kidding around here. This movie was absolutely fantastic for me, and I know there are tons of people out there who hate this film. Actually every person I know who I've talked to about this film has hated it and pretty vividly hated it, but there's something about this film that draws me to it like a moth to a bright light-bulb.

I know the story doesn't make a TON of sense, but that's fine. As I'm sure I've established already, movie stories don't mean much to me since I dislike the movie medium to begin with. I feel movies are usually too short to make effective stories. That's not always true, and in general I think horror movies are the best kinds of movies because they use pacing and the shortness of the medium effectively. I also lump suspense and thriller types of movies into horror. See, those are the kinds of movies that prosper under a tight schedule. Other movies, like serious dramas or most romances or comedies (boy, do I dislike most comedic films), I feel, suffer from the shortness and the pattern of movies. It seems that every one of those films has to have the same kinds of stuff happen in them and it makes them tiresome and terrible and kind of makes me want to go insane and turn into a vampire and just go wild. I just hate most movies, all right? My point here in this review is that I don't hate this movie. In fact I kind of really like it.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Saquarry, you idiot, how can you like this horrible film and dislike, oh let's see... Ghostbusters for example?"

Well, that's easily answered. Ghostbusters is an overrated sack of cruddy garbage and should only be watched by people who have actually no appreciation over actual storytelling and character development. I feel that the whole genre of comedy is made specifically for the lowest common denominator of people. It dumbs down the whole populace and makes each and every one of us more pieces of goo obsessed with amusement than thinking human beings who are made to use our imaginations.

This is one of the reasons I tend to like older films. I feel that the minimalist approach is the best approach to anything. Use class to get points across. Assume your audience isn't a bunch of mindless zombies even if they are.

And that goes to my point. I feel that most people who dislike this film just don't take the time to see it as it is. Now, I hate sci-fi films... and sci-fi in space is almost instantly a turn-off for me. I actually dislike most sci-fi films in general unless they happen to be awesome. I really liked 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Sunshine (2007), but that's about it.

Anyway, I loved the imagery of everything. I liked the ship and the scares. I liked the deaths and Sam Neill was amazing. I mean, he was just absolutely fantastic in this film. I could watch that man's performance over and over again. he is such an underrated actor, but he's been fantastic in everything I've ever seen him in, even if I didn't particularly like the movie like Daybreakers (2009), for example.

Anyway, watching this movie with its twists and turns and real scares shows me that there are some great horror films still being made.