Not since Bone Tomahawk have I been so impressed by a film with zero hype. Much like The Man from Earth (with a slightly bigger budget), this is for true sci-fi fans only. Long on script, performances and direction but short on action. Favorite moment: 1:13:35.
shareI agree. Surprisingly good movie.
The Man from Earth is a whole other level though. I love that movie!
It was pretty good and that was a great moment!
shareAgreed. Although I recently saw the Nordic film De uskyldige (a.k.a. The Innocents) and had a similar reaction to it (akin to Chronicle, or perhaps Mortal, all smaller films that like Bone Tomahawk achieve more with less with some real intelligence behind what they're saying and/or portraying, how they're saying it, within a more grounded pace and framework). And yes 1:13:35 was fantastic. Many will watch this and find it boring. I was captivated the entire time. I'm not sure how I missed this until now, but am very glad I came across it.
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Never believe. Always question. Rebuke belief, a.k.a. bias, a.k.a. groupthink, a.k.a. ideology, the bane of skeptical, logical reason.
Well said. Not sure how to quantify it, but there is something satisfying about a genre film that comes across as made by genre fans that doesn't pander and works within its budget. It has held up well to several viewings since, and has flown by in each case.
Enjoyed Chronicle and am quite intrigued by the taglines and buzz about the other two, especially the horror angle in the former, so much obliged for the mentions. Couple lesser-known gems from this century that I'd be remiss in not mentioning, though you prob saw:
The Lost Room (2006) - TV mini-series from Sci-Fi/SyFy that's actually good
Ai amu a hîrô [I Am a Hero] (2015) - Zombie manga adaptation overshadowed by Train to Busan
Splinter (2008) - Not a film of many notes, but well-played
I enjoyed The Lost Room as well, back when SciFi was "SciFi" and occasionally accidentally made good, original content (my favorite of theirs goes back to that earlier era: the two Dune mini-series and Farscape, plus Battlestar Galactica). But as far as small-budget flicks go, I LOVED Splinter! A nearly one-location, small-budget production that depicts how to do it effectively and memorably. Own it on Blu-Ray, I liked it so much. Haven't seen Ai amu a hîrô , but I'm looking that up immediately! Thanks for that suggestion.
Based on your apparent tastes, I highly recommend seeking out De uskyldige immediately. Hopefully you like it as much as I did.
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Never believe. Always question. Rebuke belief, a.k.a. bias, a.k.a. groupthink, a.k.a. ideology, the bane of skeptical, logical reason.
Funny, I have one ep left to go in Children of Dune. I'm a Lynch man, but appreciate the more faithful book adaptation. Liked Farscape and most of Battlestar, but with maybe five eps to go, I found it was more soap opera at that point and jumped ship. SyFy's Infestation is a guilty pleasure.
Splinter is just great, as you say. Usually the "big reveal" is disappointing in most films, regardless of budget, but it was most impressive there. Kept the FX use sparse to great effect.
Enjoy Hero. It's got enough of a twist on familiar ground to stand out. Still owe you one, so let's see if one of these lands:
Uzumaki [Spiral] (2000) - Another manga. More "out there" than any yet mentioned, but well done and super creepy.
In the Fade (2017) - Slow burn revenge story
Tasogare Seibei [The Twilight Samurai] (2002) - Beautiful, thoughtful film. As a fan of the samurai subgenre, it's a favorite.
If you mean the 2009 Kyle Rankin movie Infestation (I also liked his more recent Run Hide Fight, although that's a very different kind of movie), I quite enjoyed that as well. There's also the U.K. 2005 zombie flick Infestation. Neither of those were SyFy originals though (I think), so I may have missed the one you're referring to. If so, I'll have to find that.
A more recent film in the similar vein that not many people seem to like (perhaps because they didn't get what it was going for) but I found myself smiling throughout was It Came From the Desert, which is a play on those types of big monster films from yesteryear like Them, but with an even cheesier B-movie vibe (a lot like Rankin's Infestation).
There's a lot I liked in Battlestar Galactica. I didn't mind the drama, and in fact like the more political storylines, but the past couple of seasons veered off course a bit, especially the finale, and Katee Sackoff got on my nerves.
Hey along a different track is Christopher's Smith' 2009 movie Triangle. For whatever reason I love that film and have spent wayyyyy too much time discussing it online (to the extent that I had an 12-part post back when IMDB forums still existed). There's quite a few layers beneath what appears on the surface if paying attention, and I'm a sucker for any kind of time loop film (especially ones that adhere to its internal structure like Predestination, Primer, Time Lapse, Timecrimes, etc.).
But oh wow, I didn't realize many others knew about Spiral (a.k.a. Uzumaki). Yeah that one was mindbending for sure. As far as Asian supernatural/horror goes, my all-time favorite is the Korean flick A Tale Of Two Sisters.
I also have to mention the Pascal Laugier French classic Martyrs (the original, not the U.S. remake), a film that really sticks with you long after the credits roll. To a lesser extent I liked his The Tall Man also (all because of the very last line in the movie that subverts the established premise, leaving an echoing question to ponder as the credits roll).
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Never believe. Always question. Rebuke belief, a.k.a. bias, a.k.a. groupthink, a.k.a. ideology, the bane of skeptical, logical reason.
Definitely Raskin. I know there was a SyFy title card at the start, but looks like they were the US distributor. Crazy, RE: him and Laugier, as one who usually notes directors, I've seen 3/4 of the two directors' films you mentioned and have Run Hide Fight but have yet to watch it, I had no idea half those four films had directors in common. Martyrs is my favorite of the three seen. As a fairly grizzled horror fan who ranks À l'intérieur a modern masterpiece, the first thing I said to a horror buddy after Martyrs was that Mylène Jampanoï might have been the hottest chick I've ever seen. :D
Have seen the time loop movies mentioned, with varying levels of mindfuck residue, with Timecrimes at the top for me. On the subject, I've seen Primer (2004) more than a couple times and still not sure I fully get it.
Yeah, being a long time genre fan, once you check off all the greats, the only way to proceed is by digging. Every so often you strike gold. FWIW, in looking at Uzumaki it appears there is a remake due this year. Sisters was great, RE: Korea, I rank The Chaser (2008) as possibly the most edge of your seat thriller I've seen.
Spent a lot of time on the IMDb horror board and am still pissed they shut them down. This place has the coverage and the post archives, but has a tiny fraction of activity. Glad to see our tastes vary at least a little bit, as I was starting to think you were my dopelganger, as I am a fan your namesake.
Agree! À l'intérieur a.k.a. Inside was fantastic. Another one that takes its time to unfold in a grounded manner to end in a very horrific conclusion. The U.S. remake of that was a bit lame by comparison, and not nearly as effective as the original (U.S. remake typically are). What adds weight to Inside is that it replicates actual events that have happened multiple times around the world, which is quite disturbing to contemplate.
Of course there's the infamous A Serbian Flim, which should be on any extreme horror list.
Primer is a bit too dry to be a good movie in my view. but it's a superb example of a time loop story that nails its internal logic without deviation, based more closely on actual scientific theory than anything else out there (although Timecrimes, which is a much more engaging, entertaining movie also does a superb job of not violating its own internal logic). But Primer for me is more an experience than a good movie, with low production value and some questionable acting. My main interest in it is the puzzle of the time loops.
Haven't seen The Chaser but was able to watch many similar films of that nature on the Asian Extreme segments Sundance had going for a few years a good while back (two that stuck with me being Memories Of Murder and DMZ, and I also found Silk, more of a supernatural thriller, interesting), and of course with all the streaming these days many are readily available (there's some great stuff on Shudder). But I'll have to hunt down The Chaser and check it out.
Yeah MovieChat has post archives, and so does filmboards.com (in fact filmboards has a Chrome extension that adds all the IMDB archived posts they pulled before it shut down onto the bottom of the actual IMDB listings, integrating them pretty well), which is nice to have (I'm glad a few people out there made the effort). But nothing out there comes close to the activity the IMDB forums had for years. I was pretty pissed when they shut them down.
Anyway, to loop back around, De uskyldige just caught me by surprise. It's not really horror, although it edges that way, blending it with an X-men vibe, turning what at first seems mundane into something I found absolutely fantastic in its understated escalation to the end. Hell, I may have to fire it up again sometime over the weekend.
Hopefully I'm not overhyping it and you end up being disappointed.
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Never believe. Always question. Rebuke belief, a.k.a. bias, a.k.a. groupthink, a.k.a. ideology, the bane of skeptical, logical reason.
Haha no worries. Nobody experiences art exactly like another. Already ten minutes in and can tell it won't be time wasted. It's already gotten three difficult film things right: kids, natural small talk and tension. All three kids so far have been amazing, thankfully.
Dude, after the boards went down I tried TMDb for a while and then here, to middling satisfaction. There was an extension for MC, but it just broke in an update recently. FB not only seems to have more action, but their extension works! Not sure how I missed that place, but thanks!
The Chaser is top notch imo, and presents more than one great fresh angle on the genre themes. And I usually similarly try to reign in my hyperbole.
And agreed on Primer. It's more akin to a textbook than engaging fiction, but still interesting.
Inside is a hell of a ride and actually gets my heart rate up. The human evil angle is chillingly plausible, à la Henry: PoaSK or Snowtown, two films that while masterpieces, I hesitate to revisit. A Serbian Film was gnarly for sure, but it went a little overboard with the b*** r***. :/
I watched this a few days ago. Liked it a lot. I understand a lot of people may not care for the low key approach and the lack of spectacle and effects.
But I found the story absorbing, and the maths/detection elements used to investigate ttthe events gripping.
I would liken it to the early scenes of Contact is some ways, trying to solve the puzzle of a possible alien intelligence sending signals.
Not sure which movie in the post you replied to you meant. If you meant my OP, recommend the other films mentioned in it, though you likely have seen already.
shareI was referring to UFO.
shareAh. In that case 100% agreed! I enjoyed Contact's more grounded approach, though obviously in the context of a much higher budget project.
And not to sound like a forum nazi, but the same problem existed on the IMDb boards: these are displayed in a "nested" format, which makes it easy to see which post a reply is from, as long as you hit the "reply" button in the appropriate post, i.e. the OP in this case.