Review: Satanic suggestions in 'Regression'

For a long time, Alejandro Amenabar has been one of my favorite writer-directors for the twisted suspense thrillers. He was quite prolific at the turn of the century -- "Thesis" (1996), "Open Your Eyes" (1997) and his English-language debut "The Others" (2001). His biographical drama "The Sea Inside" won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004.

Since then though, his output had been sparse. That was why when I heard that he will be releasing a new film this year entitled "Regression," I made sure I went to watch it.

Seventeen-year old Angela Gray accuses her father of sexually abusing her. Detective Bruce Kenner is assigned to her case. The father meekly admits to the crime, but does not actually recall doing it. Kenner seeks the help of Psychology professor Kenneth Raines to elicit his repressed memories, as well as those of the other members of the Gray family, via hypnotic regression. What is revealed from these sessions are diabolical confessions of such disturbing nature that Kenner himself could not get them out of his own mind.

Ethan Hawke is such a good actor, really. From his feature debut in "Dead Poet's Society," then "Before Sunrise" (and its series), "Gattaca," "Sinister" to his Oscar-nominated performances in "Training Day" and "Boyhood," this guy can really portray the most ordinary characters and wind up making them very memorable. His intense take of the obsessed Bruce Kenner was riveting and infectious. His visions become our visions, his beliefs our beliefs. He had a flawless interactive rapport with Amenabar's camera, registering and conveying the anger, paranoia, confusion, and fear of his character so well onscreen.

Emma Watson returns on her trajectory to becoming a serious movie actress after being sidelined by unfortunate roles in "This is the End" and "Noah." The talent and the promise are there, but the connection with her role as the troubled Angela was not as convincing as that of Hawke's. Her best performances were still those for Hermione Granger. Her young adult performances in films like "Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "The Bling Ring" had a certain unnatural stiffness in them, as it was again here as well.

Credible supporting performances were given by David Thewlis as the authoritative Prof. Raines and David Dencik as Angela's repentant father John. Going a bit over the top was Dale Dickey and her exaggeratedly demented performance as Angela's grandmother Rose. The strangest casting decision was that of Lothaire Bluteau as the priest Reverend Murray. He exuded such a creepy vibe, which of course may be the director's intention.

While "Regression" was still not on the same level of excellence as "Open Your Eyes" or "The Others," Alejandro Amenabar returned to form with this comeback project of sorts. The script, though weak and flawed in certain aspects (like motive, for one important example), was still logical and grounded despite dealing with controversial religious and psychological matters. The storytelling engages you despite the dark unpleasant topics and relentlessly morbid atmosphere. I am looking forward to the next Amenabar opus. I hope it does not take so many years anymore. 7/10

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Review: Horror unfolds on computer in 'Unfriended'

Since the time of 'The Blair Witch Project," the horror film landscape had been peppered with various variations of the "found footage" style ad nauseam. This even created an entire profitable franchise in the "Paranormal Activity" series.

It is high time for something new to shake up the horror genre. Here comes "Unfriended" where all the action happens online from a computer screen.

Blaire Lily (Shelley Hennig) and her boyfriend Mitch (Moses Storm) are having a naughty private chat online, when they are suddenly joined in by their other friends, namely the nervous Adam (Will Peltz), the clueless Jess (Renee Olsted), the techie Ken (Jacob Wysocki), and the bitchy Val (Courtney Halverson).

However, that night, they are joined by a mysterious account that seemingly belonged to their other friend Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman). However, Laura had been dead for a year now. She committed suicide after being cyber-bullied when an embarrassing video of her in a drunken stupor was posted on the net. Now, Laura wants payback and badly.

The conceit of this horror flick is that all we are seeing on the big screen is what Blaire sees on her Apple laptop screen. We see her watching YouTube, posting on Facebook, group chatting on Skype with webcams, downloading videos and photos, among other online activities we are all familiar with. That is what makes the horror, outlandish as it may seem, in this film so palpable. It involves activities we do practically do every day as we fiddle with our computers. The possibility that the paranormal can infiltrate our virtual reality is compelling stuff.

Director Levan Gabriadze, in his breakthrough Hollywood debut, effectively creates genuine chills despite the limited confines of his setting. Annoying computer problems, like slow download speeds, screen glitches and snail-paced buffering times, had been used to create suspense and excitement to push the scare level up.

Of course, the obvious downside of this film's gimmick is that computer-illiterate people who do not understand these online activities will find all the clicking around on screen to be completely ludicrous and meaningless.

It really helped that the actors and actresses in this film are not big stars. They maybe too whiny or unlikable, but that is what makes them regular young people who hang around the net with their friends.

The story takes a deeper turn as it delves into their inter-relationships as friends. That game of "Never Have I Ever" is a high-tension sequence which kept me on the edge of my seat as Laura pressures each of them to reveal dark secrets they have kept from each other under the threat of death.

I appreciate the originality of this film in the story-telling technique. The name of the lead character, Blaire, could well be a tribute to the "Blair Witch Project," reflecting its attempt to break new territory in horror film-making with this movie. I caught its reference to "Dangerous Liaisons" at the end and I liked it. It is as much an intense suspense film, as it is a sociological treatise on today's youth and the brutal cyber world they live in. 8/10

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Fil-Am makes directorial debut with 'Voodoo Possession'

HOLLYWOOD – For his first big movie directing job, Filipino-American Walter Boholst chose to do "Voodoo Possession", a horror-thriller set in an insane asylum in Haiti where a man is desperately trying to find his missing brother.

The Fil-Am director also wrote and co-produced the movie which stars veteran Hollywood character actor, Danny Trejo.

Boholst's experience in making the project that he cared passionately about sounded like a beautiful nightmare.

"I've done a lot of films like short films, music videos so it's really a hard thing to do a movie on a much bigger scale. It was a dream come true," he said.

It was while he was studying to be an entertainment lawyer in Florida that the Hollywood bug bit Walter

Boholst's parents come from Mandaue and Leyte and he's hoping the movie can find distribution in the Philippines so he could show his work in his parents' homeland.

"Voodoo Possession" is getting an international release. It is also now available on iTunes, Amazon and other video outlets.

Read more from Balitang America

source:  www.abs-cbnnews.com