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married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender
Yeah, this isn't like, anime death tentacle rape whorehouse stuff. You'll hate it no questions asked, but the movie is, uh, tastefully done? Artistic? Also been a while since I've seen it.

edit: What a pagesnipe

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STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

married but discreet posted:

Yeah, this isn't like, anime death tentacle rape whorehouse stuff.

It scares me how casually that phrase sounds.

I didn't mean to insult or denigrate the film. I haven't seen it (and not sure I will). I was just trying to make light of my extreme reservations.

married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender
Well it is the name of a presumably popular subforum around here but I have never set a foot in it cause generally anime is bad. But somehow I keep finding myself defending anime in bracketology...

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.
7. (A Conglomerate of People Who Hate Me’s Team It's Not A Cartoon, Mom! It's Art! 😫) Eiichi Yamamoto’s Belladonna of Sadness vs. 15. Brian Yuzna’s Amphibious 3D



Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
Directed by Eiichi Yamamoto

What if a 70s concert poster started moving around and what if everything in that poster was actually a penis and what if it was all a metaphor for female empowerment and bodily autonomy in the face of institutions run by men — religion, government, capitalism, etc.



Belladonna of Sadness uses some truly delicate and beautiful art to depict particularly awful and brutal events. On the whole, it’s unlike pretty much anything I’ve seen before. There are parts that were definitely inspired by Yellow Submarine, along with parts that definitely influenced 80s “rock and roll” animated films like Heavy Metal or Rock & Rule. The watercolor stills and watercolor-style animations definitely set it apart though.



Despite its lurid description, it’s not an endless parade of tentacles, though you can see where some of those movies got their inspiration. I will assume this is the case and not research the matter further.




Amphibious 3D (2010)
Directed by Brian Yuzna

Amphibious 3D is not great. Let’s just get that out of the way. If you’re looking for great horror, keep moving. Some, but not all, of the acting is pretty bad. The story is muddled with unnecessary complexity. The computer effects are sub par for 2010. This is a real shame because I think the movie would have been much better if it had shown the monster less. The poster already gives it away. You know it’s some kind of giant scorpion. A story in which *something* is stalking and killing people on a remote fishing platform is much more interesting than just waiting around for Yuzna to finally show you the whole scorpion.



It’s not completely terrible though. At only 83 minutes, Amphibious 3D doesn’t waste a lot of time with extraneous exposition. Michael Paré does a decent job as Jack Bowman, boat captain and hero. Francis Bosco and Francis Magee are also convincing enough as the two main human villains. Yes, both actors are named Francis. Their characters have different names. When the movie uses practical effects, they’re actually good. Lots of folks get chopped or stabbed, leading to plenty of blood and guts. There’s also a nice surprise at the end, just when I thought they were dragging things out to pad the time.


I'm planning to vote for Belladonna of Sadness in this matchup. As an artistic achievement, it blows Amphibious 3D out of the water. :dadjoke:

twernt fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Jun 7, 2021

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

I vote for belladonna. I barely watched it but what i saw from the scorpion movie, yikes. That was a garbage 15 mins for me.

MacheteZombie
Feb 4, 2007
Chained was pretty good. Vince and the other guy gave pretty interesting performances. It's not Texas Chainsaw Massacre tho.

I haven't watched Belladonna yet but I'm comfortable saying Yuzna isn't winning.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I would definitely need another viewing of Belladonna to properly absorb it, but the animation is some of the best stuff I've ever seen. I'd probably have a hard time voting for Yuzna here even if it was Bride of Re-Animator.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I watched Chained. It was ok. Very well acted, looked good, engaging, despite the horrible content it was handled in a way that didn't make me overly uncomfortable. I don't know about the story. It felt like a novel adaption that had a lot of stuff cut out. The main story felt anticlimactic and the end of the movie twist felt unbuilt and odd. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel about the film. But its all moot since its up against TCM. I haven't watched it yet but I've seen it a bunch of times and I can't see any way a TCM rewatch before Friday will change my mind. Voting Hooper.

I haven't watched Amphibious. I plan to but everyone says its terrible and I don't like Yuzna anyway. I tried to watch Belladonna of Sadness. I got through 25 minutes and couldn't sit through any more of it. The art and music is pretty but I hate that thing of using pretty images to juxtapose ugly content. And God I hated this content. Just felt like rape after rape after rape after rape. I felt physically ill and completely depressed. I got nothing but misery from this film and didn't want any more. I'm probably just abstaining from this. Belladonna is probably the objectively better film and no matter how bad it is Amphibious will probably be the more tolerable and "enjoyable" film for me considering I couldn't even get through Belladonna. But I didn't watch it fully so it doesn't seem fair. So unless Amphibious blows me away or for some reason I try and give Belladonna another shot I'm just gonna abstain.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

STAC Goat posted:

I haven't watched Amphibious. I plan to but everyone says its terrible and I don't like Yuzna anyway. I tried to watch Belladonna of Sadness. I got through 25 minutes and couldn't sit through any more of it. The art and music is pretty but I hate that thing of using pretty images to juxtapose ugly content. And God I hated this content. Just felt like rape after rape after rape after rape. I felt physically ill and completely depressed. I got nothing but misery from this film and didn't want any more.

You basically turned it off where it takes a turn. Not that it ever becomes happy, because the whole film is about the repression and control and destruction society weighs on women, but where the film starts to empower Jeanne.

Here's what you skipped out on, for context:

Jeanne returns to Jean, who is destroyed by the ritual defloration. Their relationship will never be the same, and Jean becomes contemptuous of Jeanne for being raped.

That night Jeanne has dreams of a tiny little devil (who looks like a penis) who promises her power and hints at revenge. Jeanne sacrifices her body to the devil, but says her soul belongs to God.

A famine happens and the evil baron raises taxes to fund his war. Jean is made into a tax collector but gets his hand amputated as punishment for doing a poor job. The devil forces Jean into a pact and she becomes an usurer and becomes the most powerful person in the village.

The Baron returns from war. His wife is jealous of Jeanne and accuses her of witchcraft, turning the town against her. The town assaults her, and she flees into the wilderness, where she makes another pact with the devil, granting her magical powers. The village is infected with the Bubonic plague.

Jeanne uses her powers to cure the disease, indebting the village to her again. Her magic also inspires a psychedelic orgy throughout the village.

Jean and Jeanne reconcile. The baron invites Jeanne to meet with him because he is impressed with her power. In exchange for her cure for the Bubonic Plague, the baron offers to make Jeanne the second highest noble in the land. She refuses, telling him she wants the whole world.

The baron has his soldiers burn Jeanne alive at the stake, and Jean is killed trying to stop it from happening. The villagers see this happen and become angered at their deaths. Jeanne's soul transforms the villagers because she died with pride and power. Her spirit lingers on for centuries as a force of feminist power, and directly instigates The French Revolution.



So while the movie does feature sexual assault, the first, most horrific one, is based off Droit du seigneur, (also known as jus primae noctis), "the lord's right" ("right of the first night"), a legal right in medieval Europe. The term was coined by Voltaire in 1762, who wrote a play with that as the title, which was performed after he passed away. The historical veracity of it as a practice is still debated, whether it was a law, or a binding custom, or if it was even used that often. Either way, it's an incredibly depressing and horrific topic!

The actual story of Belladonna of Sadness is adapted from Jules Michelet's La Sorcière, a history of witchcraft published in France in 1862, the same year Victor Hugo's Les Misérables was published. Michelet was a French Historian, who's book ""History of the French Revolution" is "the cornerstone of all revolutionary historiography and is also a literary monument". According to Michelete in La Sorcière, "Satanism and Witchcraft" in English translation, medieval witchcraft was an act of popular rebellion against the oppression of feudalism and the Roman Catholic Church. This rebellion took the form of a secret religion inspired by paganism and fairy beliefs, organized by a woman who became its leader. The participants in the secret religion met regularly at the witches' sabbath and the Black Mass. Michelet's account is openly sympathetic to the sufferings of peasants and women in the Middle Ages. Michelet’s authority on the history of the Middle Ages, and insistence that history should concentrate on ‘the people, and not only its leaders or its institutions’ placed him ahead of his time as a godfather of micro-history Michelet was one of the first few people to attempt to show the sociological explanation of the Witch Trials. He does so similarly to his follower, Margaret Murray, in interpreting the source material very literally.

According to Michelet, in a note added to the end of the book:

The object of my book was purely to give, not a history of Sorcery, but a simple and impressive formula of the Sorceress's way of life, which my learned predecessors darken by the very elaboration of their scientific methods and the excess of detail. My strong point is to start, not from the devil, from an empty conception, but from a living reality, the Sorceress, a warm, breathing reality, rich in results and possibilities.

This "Proto-Marxist-feminist yarn" is sympathetic to Jeanne, and is filled with a rage towards the world's history of violence and objectifying women, while following a similar sentiment laid out by Michelet.

"Serdar Yegulalp, Belladonna of Sadness: Satan Met A Lady posted:

I am always of two minds with any story where rape is a plot element. Ninja Scroll is one of my current negative examples; there, one of the main characters is repeatedly put into sexual peril, mostly as a way to give the (male) main character something to rescue her from. With Belladonna, though, Jeanne's violation and her further use of her sexuality is an actual story element — it's central to Jeanne's struggle against a world where the only way women are not somehow suspect is if they are not fully female to begin with. Better to become, all the more completely, the thing they hate and fear, and use it against their oppressors.

"Bobduh (@B0bduh) from WrongEveryTime posted:

This film is furious: furious at the world that scarred Jeanne, furious at its sniveling inhabitants, and furious at the vast hypocrisies that define their lives.

Belladonna of Sadness is a story about the ways women will always be witches, as long as society wants them to be. Jeanne does absolutely nothing wrong, and yet her simple desire to live happily with her husband is thwarted again and again by her lord, by her neighbors, and even by her husband himself. Her initial rape is presented through visual metaphor so violent it actually feels as graphic as seeing the act itself, her body torn in two, screams accompanying the striking red fill that Kunihiko Ikuhara would later turn into his own icon of violence. And from there, her story only becomes more and more tragic, as even her husband seems incapable of treating her kindly. In one of the film’s best-chosen animation highlights, Jean’s hands shift from gently caressing her hair to closing around her throat, echoing this film’s overall understanding that appreciating a woman is always a conditional act, a prayer that contains a curse.

Jeanne herself bears the psychological burden of a society that cannot value female autonomy. The “devil” who visits her seems to embody that autonomy, seducing her with such sinful wishes as “you should be able to make your own choices” and “sex doesn’t have to be a violent theft, it is okay to enjoy your own body.” The fact that the devil appears as a penis underlines the fact that power is a man’s tool in this world, and only by aligning yourself with male power can you hope to succeed. And later sequences dance on the line between pain and pleasure, Jeanne’s alternately sensual and painful moans emphasizing how in a world where our bodies are seen as sins, finding joy in intercourse means combating a lifetime of repression, or accepting you are a fallen soul. Later on that point is made explicit: when the witch Jeanne counsels a couple on having sex without becoming pregnant, the lord’s cries of heresy make it clear that sexual autonomy is itself a sin. Even the film’s active frame manipulation echoes this point, through a frame of ostensible sexual contentment pulling back to reveal the ugly truth.

Throughout the story, Jeanne struggles to be accepted by a world that condemns her for things beyond her control. After being spurned by her husband for the crime of being raped, she works hard at spinning fabrics, and eventually becomes a successful merchant. When her hard work prompts economic success, she is swiftly assailed with rumors of being possessed by the devil – because of course, women’s labor can never be relied upon, and their successes can never be trusted. Jeanne’s body is presented as a strange canvas that hostile forces continuously act upon, leading her to eventually tell the devil that “this flesh, this rotting flesh, I will give it to you if it will save Jean.” In a world like this, how could she possibly come to value her own body? Even the fact that Jeanne and Jean share a name seems designed to highlight the disparities of their society: two people alike in all but gender, one continuously coddled by his society, one forever spurned as a witch.

With great irony, Belladonna of Sadness, a movie where the rape gets so much discussion and warnings, is also about sexual liberation. The orgy scene is not a psychedelic excuse to show more sex, but is instead a symbolic movement towards sexuality as pleasure. Jeanne, a victim of abuse, liberates the world around her, from the personal--her advice to a couple about their sex life--to the abstract larger population with the orgy.

"Serdar Yegulalp, Belladonna of Sadness: Satan Met A Lady posted:

Small wonder that when Belladonna entered theaters in Japan for its very short run there, the one demographic that seemed most intrigued by the film was college-aged women. Like the antiheroines in the Nikkatsu exploitation pictures of the period — e.g., Meiko Kaji as Lady Snowblood — Jeanne seems an unlikely feminist heroine. But the best of those films rose above being mere grindhouse sleaze thanks both to their gut-level social commentary and their fiery, independent central characters. Belladonna works the same way: it starts as a psychedelic whirpool of sex, horror, and fantasy, but in time builds a case for Jeanne as a feminist figure by showing us how she persuades herself she is one as well.

quote:

The source inspiration spins into other valleys and hills entwined with symbols of French female empowerment, following Michelet’s palette and home country. Indeed, amongst the film’s “stranger conceits…is that Jeanne’s story is actually the tale of Jeanne d’Arc” (Wilkinson). Jeanne’s persecution is not just that of the nobility, but also the church. It is the priest who suggests a cleansing death by fire to ensure Jeanne is rid entirely of the Devil. Like her namesake Jeanne d’Arc, Jeanne, too, is pursued by the army and burned at the stake. The close inset shots of her anguished face throughout the film, especially during her death, are reminiscent of the 1928 Carl Dreyer film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc. La Passion is known for it’s use of tight close ups and unrelenting focus on the pain of it’s heroine. Jeanne d’Arc’s death brings a revolt from the peasants who shout that they’ve “killed a saint”. The framing of the heroine’s face and subsequent revolt following her death are vastly similar between the two films.

The 1973 ending was Jeanne’s death by burning at the stake, inspiring the peasants to revolt with each woman’s face morphing into Jeanne’s, but it was changed during the 1979 recut. The 1979 final image is that of Eugene Delacrioux’s 1830 painting Liberty leading the people tying Belladonna to not only to Jeanne D’Arc but also “Marianne, the female personification of the French Republic” (Wilkinson). According to Eiichi Yamamoto, “the final image…was added to the film in 1979 when a shortened, censored version of the film was unsuccessfully re-released in Japan… [Belladonna] was re-edited in an attempt to make it appeal more to young women, since it had been gaining a cult reputation among college students.” (Bartok). The studio wanted less “graphic eroticism that would appeal to younger female audiences” (Skelly).The addition of the painting can be seen as an attempt to reaffirm the themes of empowerment, both female and class, which seems hesitant considering the bawdy nature of the film. This is the version that is currently rereleased by Cinelicious.

There are, however, detractors who do not see the film as uplifting, and it's only fair to share their perspective:

"Sam Gurry, Arcane Revenge: Belladonna of Sadness posted:

Since the release of this film, it has been heralded as a ‘Feminist’ tale of of sex and witchcraft. Spectrevision, one of the co-presenter’s of the film rerelease, takes this stance staunchly. Elijah Wood, one of the owners of Spectrevision, said this plainly in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Wood states, “We take the stance that it’s effectively a feminist film. It’s very much about female empowerment” (Collis). This is a wholly misguided interpretation of the film. Belladonna is rife with “transgressive pop-porn and the kind of outright misogyny that mars so many otherwise righteous female-driven revenge narratives” (McCormack). Jeanne is empowered only as far as to actualize the desires of a male Devil, a literal phallus. Jeanne is a character created by men and does not exist in a vacuum of her own will. One of the film’s biggest supporters, Dennis Bartok, finds the piece difficult to endorse as empowering citing the “graphic and alarming” depiction of her abuse. Bartok contends that the film straddles “art-house and exploitation, and contains strong elements of both feminism and an overtly sexualized depiction of Jeanne” (Bartok). The overly sexual nature of Jeanne as a poison sweetness meant to be consumed invalidates the, possible, intent of the creators for her to be interpreted as Feminist hero.

However, Sam Gurry also writes:

quote:

The way rape is depicted in both A Thousand and One Nights and Belladonna of Sadness is not just violent. These are bold, bawdy depictions of a heinous act meant to motivate story, male characters plot lines, and, perhaps most importantly, provide a sexually satisfying and ‘serious’ backdrop for the audience. The films marketing as Pink films support the filmmaker’s intention with the rape scenes. They are ‘erotic’ and, indeed, meant to arouse.

Which seems to be putting a lot of weight on "intention" of others to say that the horrific, disturbing rape is "erotic" and "meant to arouse", which is a point I personally find ridiculous. There is an irony that Sam Gurry, and other male writers, are the ones debating how feminist the film is, which I think has value for debate. I didn't find many women writing essays about the film, but there are plenty of anecdotal posts from women, on Reddit and Letterboxd and film blogs, that praise the film and enjoy it's message. EDIT: Sam Gurry seems to be non-binary, and an animator and filmmaker, so my apologies to them. So while it's place as a feminist text is debatable, more often people acknowledge the film for it's "pro-Woman" and "pro-Sexual Liberation" messages and themes. I do appreciate Sam Gurry's work in compiling a context for Women's Liberation in Japan at the time of Belladonna of Sadness's release, because it was very different than what was happening in Western society, the latter of which seems to have influenced Belladonna more than it's own country of origin.

I suggested Belladonna of Sadness as a part of the Anime team because I think it is a fascinating, sympathetic depiction of Witchcraft, and it's greater relation to weaponized oppression to women throughout history. While it may not be the most sensitive depiction of it's themes and ideas, I appreciate how many personal questions the film leaves it's viewers. It is indeed a sad film, and a disturbing film, not because it visually shows horrific acts (let's be real, nothing in this film comes close, visually, to the intense disturbing material like Irreversible or I Spit On Your Grave), but because it conveys these moments with surrealism and expressionism, making their impact more emotionally potent. It's fascinating that so much weight and power is held by a film where the frames are often paintings being panned.

Visually, I think Belladonna of Sadness is one of my favorite animations in film of all-time. I'm all for indie darlings and art films and experimental cinema, and the style of still-image camera panning and saving actual animation for important moments is incredibly potent for modern filmmaking. It makes me want to pull out my watercolors or gouache and create. It's painfully ironic that the cost of these images is an incredibly disturbing film that is pretty much a bummer to watch, so I don't actually revisit this film that often. I do, however, hold it in high esteem, flaws and all. STAC Goat may complain that this tournament has opened a floodgate of horrors that are disturbing and painful, but I think that this format is an incredible opportunity to share and discuss important films like Belladonna of Sadness, where they are kind of hard to recommend, not only because of their emotional impact or their difficult themes, but also because they need to be approached with a critical, historical and analytical context. It's not a fun movie, but drat is it interesting.

Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Jun 8, 2021

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.
I feel really inadequate following up such an epic post but here we go.

3. Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre vs. 6. (Irony or Death’s The Nephilim) Jennifer Chambers Lynch’s Chained



The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Watched on Shudder

This is actually only the second time I’ve seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I can’t remember how long ago it was that I saw it for the first time, but I remember being nervous as the opening credits rolled. At the time it was still considered a controversial or even infamous movie. I was worried that watching TCM would be kind of a horror Rubicon for me and I would never been the same person again. Well that didn’t happen.



It seems strange to describe The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as a labor of love but that’s what I really think it is. You can see it in the details — the radio station that only broadcasts the most depressing news, the nest of spiders in the old house, the tooth on the front porch. They’re all so perfect that you know a lot of thought and care went into this movie. It’s also really impressive how much of the horror comes from just letting us see the house and all of the macabre crap that fills it.



The best part, in my opinion, is just how inscrutable Leatherface and his family are. The movie never really bothers to give them any motivation (beyond wanting to eat people) or try to make them sympathetic on any level. There are no flashbacks to grandpa’s abuse-filled childhood or the hardships the family experienced when they lost their jobs at the slaughterhouse. They just exist completely outside of “normal” society and that’s how it is.

As a side note, I should also admit that until just a month or so ago I thought that Tobe rhymed with “robe” so it’s been a big year for me.




Chained (2012)
Directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch
Watched on Tubi

Even though I kind of liked it, I don’t think “enjoyed” is the right word to describe the experience of watching Chained. It’s a movie about a serial killer, who kidnaps a nine-year-old boy. Well he sort of accidentally kidnaps a boy along with the boy’s mother, who he kills. It’s a little complicated. The net result is that Bob, the killer, ends up raising the boy, who he names Rabbit, in his isolated murder house.



Because 90% of Chained takes place inside Bob’s house, the whole thing depends on Vincent D'Onofrio, Eamon Farren, and their interactions. The good news is that they both do a terrific job. The two characters have a surprisingly complex relationship. Eventually, Bob begins to see himself as Rabbit’s father and decides to teach him the family trade. It sets up a nice dynamic where Rabbit keeps pushing back, asserting himself title by little.



There’s also a persistent feeling of dread for most of the movie, punctuated by quick bursts of violence. Weirdly enough, the dread is the part I really like. For most of the movie I honestly didn’t know how it would end. After all, there’s no guarantee of a happy ending. My only real problem with Chained is that it ultimately didn’t go anywhere satisfying. It’s hard the explain more without giving the ending away, but there is a reveal that should have had more punch than it did.


Obviously I'm voting for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre here, but I think there are definitely other movies we've watched so far that Chained could have bested.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer
It's pretty fun that Jennifer Chambers Lynch first worked with Eamon Farren, and then he would go on to terrify me in David Lynch's Twin Peaks The Return.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.


On the "erotic/exploitation" topic I find myself partially agreeing with the film's detractors and I think its part of the problem with the juxtaposition of beauty to portray something ugly. Its like making a war satire where you make the battles really bad rear end or making a transgressive comedy where use use ironic racism. The messages get mixed, people CAN enjoy the bad thing sincerely, and you basically do have to go fully back to author's intent to defend it. So there's a moment or two in Belladonna like Jeanine returning from her ordeal and immediately meeting the Penis Devil who proceeds to sexually assault her without consent and we get a tight close up of her nipples getting erect as she gets aroused. That bothered me. I don't know if it struck me as eroticism or exploitation or just hosed up or I don't know what. But it bugged me.

Ultimately I don't want to take away from the film and what so many do take from it. I didn't finish it and its why I'm not ranting against it and voting for Yuzna. I just personally couldn't take it. It affected me too much, too negatively. Maybe that's a testament to this film and Bracketology has very much proven that I process dark, heavy, offensive content worse than a lot of others do. I dunno why. I just personally don't think I can sit through the film again before Friday.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Its Wednesday. You've got just under 35 1/2 hours now to finish up the films and put in your votes. I still have to fit TCM in but I don't think I'm gonna revisit Belladonna. But I have some time as we can all vote or change our votes until 3 AM EST June 11th (or when I wake up).

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
This was probably one of the easiest decision weeks we've had, at least for me. Chained has some effective stuff in it and Donofrio is always great but I mean come on, this is TCM we're talking about. And Yuzna has maybe one or two films that could've competed with Belladonna of Sadness but this wasn't it.

I'm curious to see how far Hooper can go. It's really down to the luck of the draw because most of the stuff he has left could easily win or lose a matchup depending on what it's going up against.

married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender
Amphibious 3D
First of all I'd like to mention that no amphibious animals show up in this movie. It's just a big ol scorpion that can swim, not even a cool extinct sea scorpion or a water scorpion (which is a bug). I suppose in the sense that the scorpion ends up on a fishing house (for lack of better words, certainly a cool set) it is amphibious. Why do I nitpick a movie that's got much bigger problems? I just wanted frogs or salamanders or something I guess. Well the good stuff are the aforementioned fishing house with the SE Asian cast and some good gore effects. Sadly The movie never feels like it really gets off the ground, because there was some potential for either good or bad. Unfortunately it's not enough for either, so it's overall quite boring.

Belladonna of Sadness
Before I gush about the beauty of that movie, there's a tremendous amount of rape in this movie that needs to be addressed. It's a bit tricky because I feel like a total douchebag writing the phrase "artistic rape" or trying to describe the act as "tastefully done". But when I think about it more, ultimately, it's gross and horrifying even when portrayed largely metaphorical and abstract. And here's the thing, Belladonna doesn't treat it as anything but gross and horrifying and with devastating consequences for the victim. It certainly treats it more seriously than at least one of Yuzna's movies. Would I judge anyone by being turned off by the whole movie because of it? Absolutely not. Would I cut the movie so much slack if it wasn't absolutely gorgeous? Probably not. What really struck me about the movie beyond the obvious combination of beautiful art and horrendous content is the ending. By all means it should be extremely hokey in its sudden transition to historical events and famous art, making a connection from anime titties to the Women’s March on Versailles, it should make you laugh, but it works. As one person on the discord said: drat

Voting Belladonna. Never liked Yuzna and he's coasting along by coming up against easy opponents for far too long.

Chained
Well, I haven’t seen many movies that start as shocking as this one. Wow. And then it never really lets down, and keeps going, and slowly made me wonder if there’s a point to it, and by the end when it turns out there’s none, I felt like I’d been duped. What WAS the point of that? I suppose I watched some excellent actors doing really well? Vincent D’Onofrio is a beast of a man, and this movie really, really hammers home the sheer physical menace of his character. Still, that ending really ruined the movie. If you make me sit through all that harrowing imagery at least have the courtesy of giving me some sort of payoff. Ah well.

Not rewatching Chainsaw but voting for it.

Kangra
May 7, 2012

So I have to confess, one of the reasons I actually got into watching bracketology was entirely because I kind of wanted to see a film I've never seen before -- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I don't really like slashers and I know its considered to be the film that inspired many of them. I thought I'd be disappointed. I sort of hoped watching it around those who probably really appreciate it might make it easier for me. And I figured that with Tobe Hooper in the tournament and it being so famous, it'd probably come up. But then it never did (since I didn't quite get how the bracket would shake out), until now.

I should not have worried, because The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a brilliant film. It is has the look and feel of something that just came together perfectly. Every element works, and the weakest bits (e.g. some of the acting) are held up by making it better in other ways. As for the slasher part, it doesn't have any of the genre baggage to hold on to, which is probably why I loved it. Leatherface is the purest villain, in that it is mortality itself - no fixed gender, no humanity, no need for motivation. Death comes unexpectedly and with no warning for these young people. We don't have to see them wander around scared stupid, either. I'm sure much more has been said about by those more studied in the genre, but for a first-time viewer, even after all these years, it still has it, no question.

Chained was okay, but for too much of the run time I found it ridiculous and it was only working on the strength of its performances. By the end it sort of works in more of a plot but as someone else said, you don't care about the characters by then. They weren't really established and it just sort of feels mediocre.


I found Belladonna of Sadnesss plodding and pretentious, although I did get a little more into it as it went on. I can see how it clearly has a lot of female empowerment messaging in it, but it also has a penis-demon-man talking about how much crushing and corrupting her soul turns him on. I will say that I really loved how creative the animation was, although I did have to skip a few parts (not the rape, the flickering). I can understand how the film could be more appealing to someone else, just not me.


Amphibious 3D really only has the potential to be interesting, and fails to deliver. I did like that it was able to sideline the American male hero for about as long as it could, and would have preferred if it had just continued having him stuck making inane comments about the movie's events. It really needed to make stronger choices, and with Yuzna both directing and producing, I have to mark it down as a failure.

I expected to like Belladonna more and Amphibious less, but I'm still voting the former.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Mood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSvFpBOe8eY



The only real surprise here is that a week after we had the highest number of votes all year we match the lowest number of votes all year. I can’t explain that at all. Maybe people are just burnt out or maybe the lower thread activity and lack of public streams due to our dearly lost contributor caught up this week? I don’t know. But the result is that even though Texas Chain Saw Massacre becomes the 3rd film to win unanimously it doesn’t make the Top 5 in films by votes. It does however become the very first film the entire tournament to net 100% of possible votes. Its also enough to put Tobe Hooper in the Top 5 of Directors. Belladonna also propels the “Not Cartoons” team into the top 5 but falls just short of an unanimous victory. Maybe it was just the seeming lack of drama in this week that kept the engagement low? Neither film was ever really in danger but neither seemed to draw a crowd. It sends Hooper and anime into a Sweet 16 confrontation though. And on the losing side things are rough. Lynch and Cronenberg are eliminated and join their fathers’ in the losers pool and join the small group of films to net 0 votes. Brian Yuzna did manage to get one vote but his reign as the upset king of Bracketology is over and he’s kicked out second round in unceremonious fashion.

So lets see if this week’s films can spark more interest.

1. John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars vs. 9. (STAC Goat’s W&W aka As Seen On V/H/S) Ti West’s The Sacrament


For the second round its Carpenter vs one of my teams and I’m kind of excited about the matchup, but in a very different way. Last time it was a beloved Carpenter film against one of my recent favorites I was excited to share. This time is a much maligned Carpenter vs a much maligned film i’ve never seen. Thing is, I like Ghosts of Mars. No, its not a great Carpenter film. It might not even be a good film. But I think its a fun dumb action film with some weird quirks and that Carpenter style that elevates it. And while I like Ti West I haven’t seen The Sacrament in part because of its controversial nature. Using a very real tragedy as a straight inspiration for his film is seen by some as an incredibly offense case of exploitation and by others as a half measure that should have been MORE exploitative. Its an odd thing that I’ve long been curious about but also a little apprehensive of. So for me personally this is knocking off a film I’ve wanted to see for awhile and washing it down with a guilty pleasure. For Bracketology I don’t know what it means. Carpenter drew a low film and that could mean this is his last round but West still isn’t drawing his big films and this polarizing one could either advance the W&W Boys further with a huge upset or continue the trend of my teams helping Carpenter along. Should be interesting to see.

Ghost of Mars is available on Starz and Direct TV in the US.
The Sacrament is available on Hoopla, Kanopy, and Magnolia Selects in the US.



4. (MacheteZombie’s The One n Dones) Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark vs. 5. (married but discreet’s Wuxia Horror) Ching Siu-Tung’s A Chinese Ghost Story II


MZ’s One n Dones is kind of the forgotten super team in some of these Bracketology analysis but let us not forget that it produced the first unanimous winner of this tournament in Ghostwatch waaaaaay back on February. Its been 4 months since they’ve played and they didn’t have to go through the play in round so that’s probably why they’ve fallen through the cracks, but they hit the second round now with another big cult classic in Bigelow’s Near Dark. A film I feel like I’ve constantly heard and seen people discover newly, probably in large part because its weirdly incredibly difficult to get ahold on and never seems to stream anywhere. But for people who have seen it or can see it it seems like a strong contender in here. On the flip side is something I really don’t know a lot about, a sequel to a wacky fantasy adventure. Its tough to know how this will go. Can the sequel stand on its own for people who aren’t crazy like me and feel the need to watch both? Will the wacky energy of this ride out? Traditionally when its a mainstream American horror vs an off beat international film I tend to expect our crowd to take to the latter. But Near Dark isn’t exactly “mainstream” and is kind off beat in its own right. So it will be another interesting matchup to see play out.

Sequel Alert: A Chinese Ghost Story II is unsurprisingly a sequel to A Chinese Ghost Story. It is in fact the second a trilogy but there’s also a remake and some kind of animated thing. But that stuff all comes after this so if you’re crazy like me you only need to see one film to prep for II. But from what I can tell II is in fact a direct sequel to I that picks up where the first film leaves off. So it does sound like something you should probably see if you can.

A Chinese Ghost Story is available on Amazon Prime in the US.

A Chinese Ghost Story II is available on Amazon Prime in the US.
Near Dark is never available anywhere legitimate for some reason.


That’s it. Doing this late so I might have made a few mistakes. Not sure. But another big week, another odd blend of styles and themes, another potentially tough draw for a big name. Another Bracketology week.

Vote or change your vote until 3 AM EST June 18th (or when I wake up)

Bracket & Noms Spreadsheet
Letterboxd List

Next Week!
3. Joe Dante vs. 6. Park Chan Wook
2. Wes Craven vs. 7. Deb’s Family Friendly

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Finished my stats. Tobe Hooper moves up into the top spot for Directors with Jack Arnold, knocking out Carpenter. Although Carpenter's only 2 votes behind so he should climb back in this week unless he gets destroyed. TCM is the new and forever kind of the % Top 5 with 100% since obviously that can only be matched. The anime team moves into the Top 5 of teams knocking Queer As In gently caress You out. Both teams have only played once so they're actually doing better than the teams who have played three times. I might have to add Director/Team % stats to separate the ones accumulating pts due to the extra round and those performing better in lesser opportunities. Despite the big wins the low turnout keeps both movies out the Top 5 in films.




edit: Added



As expected, the Top 5 Teams by % are 4 out 5 teams who have played once or twice. Predation is the only team to play the extra round and rank Top 5 there. Directors are more random but Tobe Hooper is the only director on both lists. Does all this mean anything? I dunno. But always tinkering, never sleeping.

STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Jun 11, 2021

Servoret
Nov 8, 2009



Do you include only free streaming services in your availability run down? Because Ghosts of Mars and The Sacrament are both available for rental on YouTube.

My local library system has five copies of Near Dark on DVD, so I’m happy that I’m able to legit vote on that match-up this week. If Near Dark was up against the first Chinese Ghost Story, the latter would easily win for me probably. Fun movie, worth checking out on its own even outside the contest.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I just including the stuff that into a service. So free apps but also subscription apps like HBOMax or Netflix. But if you have to actually make an individual payment for the movie I don't include that. Mostly because its listed separately by Letterboxd. Partially because that's definitely an extra step although I've rented a few. But either way I throw the Letterboxd link up there so you can check yourself since I know different countries have different options but like... I'm not gonna throw a VPN up and check every one, you know? I'm also not always on point and miss some stuff sometimes.

I dunno. That's the "easiest" formula I've got so far. I'm always open to suggestion. But I'm just doing the best I can figure with it.

married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender
Haha wow, Carpenter is in danger!

Near Dark vs CHS2, now that's a matchup. Near Dark is of course one of the greatest vampire movies of all times, but CGS2 is just nuts in the best possible way, essentially the Evil Dead 2 to CGS1 being Evil Dead 1, if CGS1 was already Evil Dead 2.
I don't think you'll regret watching the first one either STAC.

married but discreet fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Jun 11, 2021

TrixRabbi
Aug 20, 2010

Time for a little robot chauvinism!

married but discreet posted:

Haha wow, Carpenter is in danger!

Is he though? The draw comes right as Ghost of Mars is starting to get re-evaluated.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jun/04/john-carpenter-ghosts-of-mars-not-bad-movie

married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender
Hmm, I might have to actually rewatch it. I'm not too inclined to vote for Ti West here or even watch his movie so I suppose I'll at least have to check out the competition.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Yea I'm really not a Ti West fan and I especially don't like The Sacrament so it's an easy one for me even though Ghost of Mars is like C-tier Carpenter.

Really intrigued by the other matchup though, I've never seen either Chinese Ghost Story so I'll probably watch both.

twernt
Mar 11, 2003

Whoa whoa wait, time out.
I'm excited for these matchups because Near Dark is the only one I've already seen.

A Chinese Ghost Story was a lot of fun so I've got high hopes for the sequel.

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Haven't seen Near Dark but I assume it's a prequel to Zero Dark Thirty, right?

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

TrixRabbi posted:

Is he though? The draw comes right as Ghost of Mars is starting to get re-evaluated.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jun/04/john-carpenter-ghosts-of-mars-not-bad-movie

Desolation is Snake.

That makes so much sense.

Servoret
Nov 8, 2009



The Sacrament

I was skeptical going into this because The House of the Devil really didn’t work for me— not enough burn to sustain basically nothing going on until the last fifteen minutes of the film. But the slow burn worked for me with The Sacrament, with my foreknowledge of what was to come amping up the dread. The found footage angle didn’t really add any value for me, since there was no mystery to uncover with the premise blown for me by my watching the trailer and being old enough to recognize the source material. There’s a lot more time dedicated to the climax here than in The House of the Devil, but it got to the point where I was ready for the film to wrap up sooner than it did. 3.5/5

Ghosts of Mars

I don’t know what there is here to re-evaluate. It’s a straightforward action movie without the rich subtext of Halloween/The Thing/They Live. No one’s ever going to write a book about this film. If I wasn’t watching this for the match-up, I wouldn’t have finished it. If I had seen this in a theater when it came out, I would have felt like I wasted my time watching such generic material. 2.5/5

Obviously voting for Ti West here. Very unfortunate draw for Carpenter— just about the weakest possible outside of maybe Vampires.

Irony.or.Death
Apr 1, 2009


Everyone should absolutely watch the first two Chinese Ghost Stories, don't bother with the third. It's technically a sequel but in practice is just the first movie only not as good.

Servoret
Nov 8, 2009



Near Dark

A rewatch for me. Seems like it bites from Blade Runner a lot. Atmospherics, pacing, and score, plus the vampire family seems derived from the replicant gang: amorally childish, superhuman yet abject at the same time. 3.5/5

A Chinese Ghost Story II

I adore this period of HK cinema. The energy of it, production values and stars— Leslie Chung is great. This doesn’t have a ton to do with the first movie but is a fun adventure. 4/5

Voting Chinese Ghost Story this week.

TrixRabbi
Aug 20, 2010

Time for a little robot chauvinism!

Servoret posted:

Ghosts of Mars

I don’t know what there is here to re-evaluate. It’s a straightforward action movie without the rich subtext of Halloween/The Thing/They Live. No one’s ever going to write a book about this film. If I wasn’t watching this for the match-up, I wouldn’t have finished it. If I had seen this in a theater when it came out, I would have felt like I wasted my time watching such generic material. 2.5/5

Don’t tempt me

married but discreet
May 7, 2005


Taco Defender

Irony.or.Death posted:

Everyone should absolutely watch the first two Chinese Ghost Stories, don't bother with the third. It's technically a sequel but in practice is just the first movie only not as good.

Absolutely this. I was very disappointed with the third.

MacheteZombie
Feb 4, 2007
I'm going to check out Chinese ghost story 1 n 2 tomorrow, but I rewatched Near Dark today and it's still amazing. I'm also probably biased to vote for my team, we shall see.


Doubt I'll rewatch The Sacrament, vice meets Jonestown didn't do much for me the first time and I don't feel up for reevaluating it. Ghost of Mars is a silly (but not silly enough) action horror that I thought was enjoyable enough. It wanted to say something about labor and/or colonialism but doesn't exactly do a lot with those ideas. The script is pretty bad and I get the feeling there was some meddling in its production but I can't for certain. I'll either abstain or pull a lever for Ghosts of Mars.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I really don't know how I feel about The Sacrament. I think West does a great job building the tension of the situation and I loved the movie for like the first 70 minutes or so. I really thought I'd be forced to vote for my team. But the whole finale just left me feeling wrong about the film. Not only does it feel grossly exploitative but I think its just paced badly. The reality of what's happening hits and its brutal and then it just keeps going for 20 minutes until I'm numb to it. And it ends with the main characters' fates and I get that but it all feels so inconsequential in the big picture. And that's where the exploitation comes in because if they had just focused in on the tragedy of the Jonestown/Eden's Whatever then ok. I could see this as some kind of biopic drawing attention to the tragedy. But zeroing in on the fictional Vice crew just feels weird and wrong. I dunno. Its a great film that then just ends up making me feel agitated and dirty. Its odd.

I'm leaning towards Ghosts of Mars. Its a guilty pleasure of mine and I casually rewatched it the other night. But I'm planning to just binged Escape from New York, Escape from LA, and Ghosts of Mars and see how that "trilogy" sits with me. And mull over the Sacrament some more and see if anyone makes a ca3se for why it isn't doing something bad.

MacheteZombie
Feb 4, 2007
If ghosts of Mars ditched the testimony framing and got sillier like escape from LA I think it'd be a campy classic tbh. Also the practical effects and the look of the possessed workers is pretty solid work.

For sacrament, the idea is pretty solid. Vice bros getting in over their heads for a story they aren't equipped to report on is sound but I just remember mostly being bored.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I've mentioned this before but I'm voting Carpenter regardless of matchup, all the way to the finals. It's the one guy I'm not even gonna try to be objective about, and in this case it's even easier to do because I really don't like The Sacrament so whatever Ghosts of Mars' flaws they don't matter much to me.

Looking forward to checking out Chinese Ghost story tonight.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

MacheteZombie posted:

If ghosts of Mars ditched the testimony framing and got sillier like escape from LA I think it'd be a campy classic tbh. Also the practical effects and the look of the possessed workers is pretty solid work.

When I watched Army of the Dead I made a passing mention of how it reminded me less of Aliens and more of Carpenter and specifically the Escape and Ghosts of Mars. I didn't realize at that time that Ghosts of Mars was originally intended to be the third Escape movie but something about it struck me as familiar. Then rewatching it the other I realized that Snyder totally took the zombie/Zeus design and style from Ghosts of Mars. Then someone noticed that Zeus is even played by the same guy who played the big Martian in Ghosts of Mars.

So yeah, I think there's the core of a very solid, very influential B movie in Ghosts of Mars. It just seems to be a victim of rewrites and Carpenter messing around with a new era that wasn't his. But even with that I've always gotten a kick out of him managing to cast the next great action star as the obnoxious shithead of his cast.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I forget the exact sequence of events but Carpenter had the rugged pulled out from under him budget-wise at some point in the production and that's why Ghosts of Mars feels like such an over-ambitious film for the budget. One of the big complaints about it is that the whole thing basically takes place on a single set, and that really wasn't supposed to be the case. So the failure can't be put 100% on Carpenter when he wasn't given an accurate idea of the resources he had to work with.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer
I do think Ghosts of Mars flaws are worth discussing, because it's one of the few instances where I can kinda blame every step of production for failing what's at it's core a solid idea.

I think the cast is relatively solid. I like Henstridge (even if she's a strange choice for the lead), I like Ice Cube, Statham, DuVall, Grier, the actors that play Uno, Dos and Tres, and even Robert Carradine's weird little cameo. It wastes a lot of time trying to make everyone hard-asses, and the most consistent dynamic between everyone is that they are lecherous. The dialogue is shallow, and it makes the eventual unceremonious deaths for everyone feel like weird gags instead of actual deaths. Statham is one of the lamest deaths, but Grier and DuVall's deaths are pretty lackluster as well.

Paul C. Warschilka is the editor here. He's worked with Carpenter on Body Bags, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned as assistant editor, and this was his first promotion up in the big leagues. I can't say that the editing is entirely his fault, because he's got to answer to Carpenter, and the work materials--the script, the footage, the story, the effects--are all pretty shaky. I think that a more seasoned editor could have refined this better, or made it work more, but he's basically navigating a sinking ship. It emphasizes the flaws more than hides them. After this film he would return to being an assistant editor for television, which kind of points to the strange made-for-TV tone this thing has.

The biggest umbrage I have with the film is shared between cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe and gaffer Bob E. Krattiger.

Kibbe was Carpenter's cinematographer starting with 1987's Prince of Darkness, and 2001's Ghosts of Mars ended their collaboration. I like half of the movies he did with Carpenter--They Live, In The Mouth of Madness, Prince of Darkness, Body Bags. Village of the Damned is flawed but fine, and I abhor Vampires. (Haven't seen Escape from L.A. recent enough to give it a fair shake; I don't remember being a fan.) I only really find In The Mouth of Madness to be the most significant work of those films. His cinematography works so well for that film, but I still prefer the Dean Cundey shot Carpenter films.

So Kibbe's DP work for Carpenter is hit/miss. What's the gaffer have to do with it? To paint a fuller picture of the issues, we have to also discuss Robin Michel Bush, the costume designer.

Her first film was in the wardrobe department on Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, and her first work with Carpenter was next, with Starman. She was hired again by Carpenter on They Live as costume supervisor. She worked in Television (Harry and the Hendersons and then later The Larry Sanders Show and The Famous Jett Jackson) and then got promoted to Head Costume Designer on In The Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned, Escape From L.A., Vampires and then eventually Ghosts of Mars. I can't blame Robin Michel Bush for Blade or The Matrix's redefining leather costuming in action-blended genre films, but it's hard to ignore how quickly she followed their example. So while our villains have excellent Greg Nicotero designed make-up effects (Nicotero a student of Savini and a name probably very familiar to you), or lead actors, the gang of bad-asses we are siding with, look like this:



Their most defining characteristics are their hair. I didn't know anything about Liam Waite's character, let alone that his character's name is Michael Descanso. Did he talk? I don't remember.

This isn't to say that the costumes are terrible. They're not. They just look like the brainchild of a director who's just now getting into Playstation 2 games, like Resident Evil.

With that in mind, it's now time to talk about the film's gaffer Bob E. Krattiger, under the direction of Gary B. Kibbe. Kibbe isn't a light guy. He films things pretty naturalistic and clear. Perfunctory, and I mean that without insult.














Here he is at his most dynamic:









One moment I can't find a good picture of, because it's better in motion, is from They Live, when George and Frank are being flanked by soldiers in the alley, and flares are flashing behind them as they jump into a portal at their feet. It's the moment that the HDR really popped when I watched it on 4k UHD.

There are some scenes in Ghosts of Mars that look great:



And then there's this:




This may be all according to taste, but my biggest issue is the artificial contrasts that is created with the lighting--specifically how whitewashed the highlights and bright points are in so many scenes. It's consistent, too. The character are inside a dark room? They have highlights from a bright, white source. The characters are outside, in the red Mars setting, with pitch blackness around them? Highlights with bright, white source. This is all emphasized by the reflective leather outfits all of the characters have. It's also emphasized when the film shifts to mostly CGI moments, where that lighting can't be recreated, or are miniatures that were filmed under different, less harsh, lighting conditions.





This may seem like such a minor gripe, but it compromises a majority of the film, and emphasizes other flaws or missteps with the cinematography. For many sequences, the sets are so clearly and brightly lit, it's so unnatural that you can't imagine it being a real place. The action may be clean, but it doesn't feel real, and more importantly doesn't create any room for suspense or imagination.




For contrast, you may remember a scene Carpenter filmed that is all about shadows and how they add to mood, suspense, and danger:





Sometimes the movie even forgets it's on Mars, and that it set up red as one of it's main colors!



Why not use red highlights for this shot, instead of pure white?

It might be unfair to Krattiger to blame the lighting on him, but did no one think of color gels? Any other LED color besides pure white?

There are two stand-out moments that are straight-up bad choices from Gary B. Kibbe. One is when Statham and Henstridge go into some building to investigate, and the camera does a weird first person POV of the ground. I don't know what that was trying to convey. Another, which I've been trying to find a picture of but can't, is a shot of Ice Cube in his cell, with two of his henchman behind him. It is framed in such a way that he is clearly several inches shorter than anyone else in the room. This isn't an attack on stature--plenty of bad asses in film are short people--and you can even use this as a way of disarming the viewer before impressing you with them. Instead, it's just a bad shot that really undermines the fear we should have towards Ice Cube's bad-assery.


Carpenter has gone on record, apparently, that audiences didn't "get" Ghost of Mars, and that it was always a light, campy, goofy, bloody action sci-fi romp. I can see that. I never once went into this thinking it'd be scary, but I wanted it to be fun and good. Carpenter seems to have forgotten that a quick way to make viewers have fun is to have fun characters in a fun setting. Mars is pretty boring. The characters are pretty flat. The villains are the cool ones, and they're all dispensable cannon fodder. Failing to have defined characters with personality, a bored audience starts to look at whatever it can, and in this case it's the flaws. The Anthrax soundtrack isn't very dynamic. The logic gaps of why no one needs air to breathe or how the virus works becomes more apparent. The framing device and the constant digressions to explain what's happening feels like a foolish decision, like they tried to find the film in the edit, and made it even more complicated. When I realized I was watching a remake of Assault on Precinct 13, I just wanted to watch that movie instead.


Ghost of Mars has enough going on that I can see it being a good movie, but it's just not. And while I didn't hate the film, I just don't have much to be enthusiastic for either. It's a lackluster Carpenter film because it's so unimaginative and ugly to look at, and while it's fun to think about why, even that kinda devolves into a lackluster sport.

If you tone down the brightness and give the interior scenes more shadows, and you replace those white lights with warm yellows like from a halogen, you've already fixed a lot of what makes the movie ugly. You'd still have, you know, the editing and the dialogue and the framing device and the monotonous score, but you'd at least improve every single action sequence.

Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Jun 14, 2021

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STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

And here I was just gonna comment on how Henstridge and Cube are cool but clearly not leading characters and the whole film makes a lot more sense if you have a more charismatic lead at its core like Kurt Russell's Snake.

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