Thorne: Sleepyhead

British TV crime dramas focusing on the police side of things usually feature a damaged lead character. The damaged one in this is the Thorne in the title. 

Tom Thorne that is, who carries a secret from a previous case, shared with only one other person on the force. In the disappearance of several women in their 20's who later turn up dead or, in one essential case, alive but suffering from locked-in syndrome. Details from the previous case - a man that killed gay boys, then his three daughters - keep popping up and putting additional strain on Thorne and his working relationship with other law enforcement officers.

Obviously, as there is only one other person who knows what Tom did, he looks like he would be involved in the current case. To what extent he actually is a participant in what is happening is not clear (obviously, it will be clear in the end).

As many other British TV dramas, this is very very good. It appears that the best stuff the Brits produce they actually make for TV rather than the big screen. Seriously, they make shows in the quality of Luther, Broken Mirror, Sherlock on a regular basis, while their more popular movies are overly sentimental and drawn out. My opinion only, obviously.

The cast is fantastic, featuring David Morrisey as Tom Thorne (The Walking Dead's Governor), Aidan Gillen (Game of Throne's Littlefinger) and Eddie Marsan (one of Ray Donovan's brothers) as well as many excellent bit players.

There is another Thorne episode, called Scaredycat, soon to be watched by me.

8/10

Mi mefakhed mehaze'ev hara (Big Bad Wolves)

According to Quentin Tarantino this is the best film of the year 2013. Although I would not readily agree, I can see why he likes it. Part of it looks almost like an homage to the Mr. Blonde/cop/ear scene in Reservoir Dogs. I don't think it actually is.

This is one hell of a film, though.

The story starts right in without much of a set up. Four men 'question' a suspect to multiple murders. The whole things gets caught on tape (because everyone has a cell phone) and ends up on the internet. The suspect hast to be released in the aftermath. Not that it does him any good.

The man is a bible studies teacher and suspected of kidnapping, drugging, raping, beheading and killing little girls. With the video and all, the school does not have much choice but to suspend him. And then the father of one of the girls and the police officer that orchestrated the beat down both decide to take justice into their own hands. After one initially knocks the other out to get his hands on the culprit they then join forces to try and extract the information where all the missing heads of the murdered girls are.

This is when it gets really ugly.

The film, for all its brutality (few and far between), is beautifully shot and well acted. What is interesting is that for the longest time, it is not clear whether or not the teacher actually did kill the girls. Don't worry, all will be revealed in the end, but by then it may already be too late.

8/10

Manhunter

If Red Dragon had been made in the 1980's it would be this film.

Oh, wait.

It has. It is.

You know what? This film is not bad at all. Sure, it isn't as stylish as the later incarnation of the book Red Dragon, or stylish in a distinct 1980's way (read: dated), but the actors are as stellar as the ones who play the same roles in 2002. Although some of them may have faded into obscurity.

Will Graham is here played by William Petersen (yes, he of CSI fame, basically inventing his later role here), the tooth fairy/red dragon is played Tom Noonan (you have seen him before, I am certain, but you may not remember the name), Joan Allen plays the blind woman and the late Dennis Farina is Jack Crawford. And, oh yes, there is Hannibal Lecter (on IMDB it is spelled Lecktor), a role forever associated with the brilliant Anthony Hopkins. How could poor Brian Cox (also a brilliant actor) ever stand a chance of being remembered for it.

The music is as 1980's as the clothes are. Everything that you have seen later is here, as well, Will Graham digging into the criminal mind, the journalist rolling downhill while on fire, the weird teeth bit.

The two films even have the same score on IMDB. I get that films fade into memory of those that have concsiously lived through the times they were made in and Red Dragon serves a valid purpose for later generations. Myself, I have lived through both incarnations (yes, I am that old) and am ok with both versions.

7/10

A Perfect Getaway

It's always the ones you least suspect.

What looks like a dream honeymoon for a lovely couple about to go horribly wrong because a man/woman killer duo is roaming the Hawaiian islands turns out to be a charade played by said duo, which is actually the couple honeymooning.

First, a set of decoys is sent in. Here they come in the form of a guy that looks, sounds, acts and feels like a very bad guy. He and his hippie girlfriend are neatly pushed out of the way by the real bad guy, who plants evidence on them and has an unsuspecting bystander alarm the authorities of this 'suspicious' couple of tourists.

Then there is the big-talking cool hunky dude with his girlfriend. They are into very much in love and into drugs. He is also very handy with all kinds of weaponry. They seem like the perfect for for murderous duo in paradise. Those two turn out to be the actual targets, though.

But thanks to the killer briefly losing all ability to hit anyone properly with his gun (and then suddenly shooting and killing four guys in quick succession without blinking an eye) and his woman suddenly growing a conscience and smelling the opportunity to finally get out from under his thumb (and we know she only ever went along with killing people because he had this spell over her) the two survive. They may be all bloody but they are still very much in love and supposedly set to live happily ever after. Awwww!

Side note: Milla Jovovich can pronounce the word "Wow!" so convincingly, she is made to say it what feels like fifty times within the first ten minutes. And she is not much of an actress, is she?

4/10

Muder in the Heartland

The story of Charles Starkweather, who went on a two-months killing spree with his under age girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate in December 1957 and January 1958 has been told in several versions, sometimes depicting the actual story and other times merely using the story as inspiration.

This 1993 TV mini series probably stays the closest to the real story. The first part covers the 11 murders committed by Starkweather, who later claimed that Fugate was a willing participant, changing his initial story that she had nothing to do with the murders. Fugate always maintained her innocence, claiming she had been held hostage by Starkweather, who threatened to kill her family (her mother, stepfather and half-sister were among the first victim, Fugate denied knowing they were already dead).

Part two deals with the aftermath - the police investigation, the extradition of Starkweather to be tried in Nebraska rather than Wyoming (both states had the death penalty but he said to prefer the Nebraskan electric chair to Wyoming's gas chamber), the extent of Fugate's involvement in the crimes.

Tim Roth plays Charles Starkweather in his usual brilliant manner and Fairuza Balk is actually surprisingly good in this, as well (she usually plays weirdos rather than the precocious young girl).

Pretty decent TV adaption.

7/10

The Cell

At long last, I got around to watching The Cell. This film has been on my radar solely for Vincent D'Onofrio, who in my opinion is one of the greatest actors active today. And man, does he deliver here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Social worker Catherine Deane (played by Jennifer Lopez, who I always thought a much better actress than singer) is involved in an experimental treatment involving a billionaire's son in a coma. To get to the boy and possible reverse his condition, Catherine is taped into the boy's mind as a means of contacting him. The idea is to get him out of this world in his mind that he is believed to be trapped in. Obviously, this sort of treatment is experimental and financed by the boy's father. But as no visible progress is being made, he is ready to pack it in.

It is at this point in time that serial killer Carl Stargher (the aforementioned, flawless Mr. D'Onofrio) fall into a coma of his own, due to some rare form of schizophrenia. His latest victim is believed to be still alive at this point and there is a 40 hour window to save. Stargher keeps his victims in a glass box, fully automated, that is periodically filled with water until - at last - the victim drowns and is subsequently turned into a sort of doll.

The FBI then contacts the treatment facility and gets Catherine to tap into Stargher's mind to help them locate the missing young woman currently inside the box before she drowns. Catherine agrees and after initially contacting Stargher as a child and understanding the abuse he himself has suffered under the strict hand of his father, more than actually finding the girl, she wants to help the little boy. When one session goes wrong in a way that Catherine and Stargher overlap, FBI agent Peter Novak (the insufferable Vince Vaughn, showing why he should only be doing comedy) volunteers to participate in the experiment to 'find' Catherine again and save her.

It is he, in the end, that finds the deciding clue that helps them locate the victim and as he runs off to save the day, Catherine locks herself in with Stargher and reverses the experiment so that rather than her entering his mind, she invites the boy into her mind. But adult Stargher finds his younger self and Catherine becomes a huntress and kills Stargher - not through the arrows and sword she sticks into him, but through drowning the boy, who has suffered the same wounds as his older self.

Stargher is dead, the victim is savend and Catherine gets another shot at saving the billionaire's son by getting him into her inner world.

As strange as this sounds, the film is exciting and visually stunning in ways that I personally have only ever seen in those Hong Kong sword fighting epics.

But hey, don't take my word for it....

from Roger Ebert's review: On one level The Cell is science fiction about virtual reality, complete with the ominous observation that if your mind thinks it's real, then it is real, and if could kill you. On another level, the movie is a wildly visionary fantasy in which the mind-spaces of Stargher and Deane are landscapes by Jung out of Dalí, with a touch of the Tarot deck, plus light-and-sound trips reminiscent of 2001. On the third level, the movie is a race against time, in which a victim struggles for her life while the FBI desperately pieces together clues; these scenes reminded me of The Silence of the Lambs. The intercutting is so well done that at the end there is tension from all three directions, and what's at stake is not simply the life of the next victim, but also the soul of Carl Stargher, who lets Catherine get glimpses of his unhappy childhood.

8/10

No One Lives

A group of violent criminals (although the level of violence each member is ready to dish out varies) kidnaps a vacationing couple to - what? - kill them? rob them? torture them? Nobody knows for sure.

Then the most violent of the violent group, one Flynn, when searching the freshly obtained car, finds a young woman in the trunk, this one kidnapped herself by the pretty couple (recently considered harmless). Turns out the guy (no names, please!) is a psychopathic asshole who has not only kidnapped the girl in the trunk but apparently also the girl he was with who - rather than spending more time with the psycho - throws herself onto a bowie knife that has been threateningly held against her throat. Both women have been equiped with a sensor by the psycho, placed in their lower belly.

Things get out of hand for our group of ciminals when they find that psycho has escaped from their associate Ethan's watch and is now hunting them. And, as the title and the whipered words of the psycho suggest, "no one lives".

However, this turns out to not be quite true as the orignial kidnapped young woman survives and the psycho walks.

What it lacks in coherent story it makes up in disgust. Kind of meh.

3/10

And Then There Were None

I have a thing for old b/w versions of the stories of Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Edgar Wallace and the likes. Hence, a 1945 version of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians works for me.

This is a version of said story that one could easily imagine as an on stage production. The setting is very limited (a house indoors and out, a small boat) and it is played out like a stage production. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

The material relies heavily on acting and not on surroundings. It has an air of sophistication about it that would nowadays be replaced by grisly details and lots of movie blood (one guy is said to be cut in half!).

Weirdly enough, this genre does not work for me in book form, though. Never made it through a single Christie book.

6/10

Pretty Maids All in a Row

This film about a high school football coach sleeping with and killing female students starts off with a

DEAD CHEERLEADER ALERT!

Murder victim number one is apparently best remembered for being such a 'terrific little cheerleader'. She is found in a boy's toilet with a note stuck to her butt by fellow student Ponce de Leon Harper (yes!).

But that is the least of Ponce's problems. What really troubles this young man are his constant erections. When he confides in the coach (who is also vice principal, English teacher and some sort of counselor) he misunderstands and thinks he actually suffers from erectile dysfunction. Coach then asks sexy substitute teacher Miss Smith to take it upon herself to help the boy. This then leads to Ponce and Miss Smith having an affair (of course). It is also Ponce that discovers a vital piece of evidence in Coach's room - a recording of a 'session' he has with one of the female students.

For all the murder going on, the film is actually funny at times. If you get around to ever seeing it watch out for the principal's secretary. She is hilarious!

I love 1970's films! The clothes! The pornstaches! Telly Savalas! Rock Hudson!

7/10

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Connor and Murphy have disappeared from Boston and spent the last 8 years herding sheep in Ireland, when a hit on a priest, made to look like they did it, draws them back to clear out the leftovers.

The opponent this time around is the son of their last victim, the Italian mob boss they executed very publicly in a court room. They have to deal with a short (5'5") assassin (killer of said priest) and a whole posse of bad guys. Yet again they are aided by a few local cops as well as FBI special agent Eunice Bloom, who picks right up where agent Smecker has left off in part one.

They also get a new sidekick, Romeo, who they first come in contact with on they journey overseas. The three take out the majority of the bad guys. Of course, nothing ever goes according to Connor's cunning plans, which makes it all the more amusing.

However, it turns out that the local mob guys are not really in charge of what was orchestrated. Behind everything is someone only referred to as 'The Old Man' or, once 'The Roman', who turns out to be an old acquaintance of Poppa MacManus.

Much like part one, funny and full of quotable one liners.

8/10

The Boondock Saints

The MacManus twins, Connor and Murphy (played by Sean Patrick Falnery and Norman Reedus), kill a couple of Russian mob guys in self defense (sort of). After coming into a Boston police station, where the FBI agent Smecker (very passionately portrayed by Willem Defoe) has taken the role of lead investigator, to explain how the mobsters ended up dead they are suddenly celebrated by the media and the public for ridding the world of evil. Being religious Irish boys, they realize that this is what they should be doing - kill off bad guys.

They precede to take out big chunks of the Russian and Italian mob that infested Boston, aided by their hapless friend Rocco (David Della Rocco), who can finger any number of bad guys, having run errands for the don of the Italian side of the operations. Rocco's involvement causes some confusion for law enforcement and Smecker, at first. A lot of the killings look like professional hits (the brothers' talent runs in the family) but there is always some kills that less talented Rocco does, which stumps the investigators.

When at one crime scene Smecker finds Rocco's shot of index finger and realizes who it is he is actually hunting, he keeps the information to himself and starts aiding the crime fighting killers in any way he can. The Don has recruited a mysterious hitman, referred to as Il Duce or The Duke, to take out Rocco, who he initially believes is the only one responsible for taking out his associates.

During the bloody confrontation with the Italians, that Rocco does not survive, The Duke (Billy Connelly) arrives to take out the brothers only to realize that they are his sons he hasn't seen in a long time. The three team up to take out the last standing Italian mobster.

There is quite the cult around this film and the MacManus twins and now I understand why. The film is bloody, funny and quotable.

8/10

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

This film is a quasi biography loosely based on real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who claimed to be responsible for some 600 murders (he wasn't).

Henry, who spend some time in prison for killing his mother, shares an apartment with Otis, also a former inmate. The story kicks off with Otis' sister Becky coming to stay when trying to get away from her husband.

Actually, the film starts with close ups of dead people, killed in different fashion ever time. The idea behind this is that the crimes are harder to connect if there is no clear modus operandi recognizable (Henry's words).

For a thriller/horror film it is relatively uneventful, with only very few killings on show. The ones we actually see involve Otis, who becomes Henry's sidekick after the two have two prostitutes in the car and one gets a little too loud for Henry's taste and he breaks her neck. Initially, Otis is shocked. He gets over it pretty quickly though and has no qualms about killing along with Henry.

The situation between the siblings is difficult, as they come out of a unloving family (including incest and all). When Henry one day walks in on Otis raping Becky, he kills and dismembers him and throws the remains off a bridge. Becky, convinced that Henry will take her to safety, doesn't make it much longer than her brother.

It is all very bleak and has a distinct 1980's feeling about it. Michael Rooker is great, though.

6/10

10 Rillington Place

This is the true story of serial killer John Christie (portrayed by Richard Attenborough) and a case of miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans (played by John Hurt).

Between 1943 and 1953, Mr. Christie strangled 8 (known) victims, including baby Geraldine Evans. The film details the time of Geraldine's parents short stay in a rental apartment at the title giving address.

After Christie murdered Beryl Evans he tells her husband Timothy, who by modern standards would be considered mentally challenged, that she accidentally died while he helped her terminate an unwanted pregnancy. He urged Evans to leave town until the investigation about his wife's death had died down. The unfortunate Geraldine gets left in the 'care' of Christie.

Evans was apprehended and as a result of a false confession was then tried for the murder of his daughter and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed in 1950. This enabled Christie to murder a few more women, including his wife Ethel. He was later detected and finally hanged in 1953.

The argument that Evans was in fact innocent of the crime he was accused of was brought forward in a book by Ludovic Kennedy, which lead to a revision of the case. Evans was officially pardoned in 1966.

Very well acted by both leads.

6/10

Utopia - Season 1

This thriller in six parts evolves around a mysterious manuscript of a graphic novel called "The Utopia Experiments", that is detailing a large scale conspiracy that involves a big corporation, a secretive "network", politicians, a socially awkward killer and a group of unsuspecting graphic novel fans that end up in the middle of a murderous roller coaster ride.

Initially, it follows a man who searches for the manuscript on behalf of 'The Network', killing anyone (literally) in his way and putting forward the question, "Where is Jessica Hyde?". Jessica herself has contacted a group that more or less accidentally acquired the manuscript.

They quickly realize that they have gotten entwined in a very precarious situation there is seemingly no way out of and any person they encounter on the way may be friend or foe and they have no way of knowing who to trust. What is also not clear is whether or not Jessica Hyde herself is hindrance or help. As if their conundrum weren't severe enough, they also end up having to care for a couple of young kids, Grant (graphic novel fan, the one who gets a hold of the manuscript first and is being framed for a school shooting) and Alice (hides the manuscript for Grant and witnesses her mother being killed over it).

The series is colorful and fast paced with shifting loyalties and many a twist and turn, which keeps it interesting and the audience guessing. The end then is a rather bleak one for all involved (or rather, the ones still alive). Channel 4 also put up a pretty nifty website to go with the show.

7/10

All About Evil

Slasher film of the worst kind. And by worst, I obviously mean awesome.

Librarian Debbie runs the movie theater her late father left her. When her evil mother (formerly playing the Wicked Witch in a Wizard of Oz themed matinee) wants her to co-sign a sale contract, Debbie snaps and kills her.

The security camera in the lobby has captured the entire encounter and as she panics and accidentally plays it back to the audience instead of the actual film that was supposed to screen, it becomes an instant hit and Debbie is henceforth celebrated as a heroine filmmaker.

She proceeds to produce a string of horror shorts, assisted by a group of misfits, that play to increasing success in her own theater. Obviously, Debbie - now going by Deborah Tennis - eventually dies a gruesome b-horror-movie death.

Funny/ridiculous film that makes fun of itself and the b-horror genre as it produces rivers of fake blood.

6/10

Forbrydelsen (The Killing) - Season 2

After stellar first season, Forbrydelsen would obviously have a hard time matching the high expectations (my high expectations, that is). So it is not as good as the first one. However, it is still much better than most other  crime shows on offer.

The milieu we are in this time around is military. Murders occur that turn out to be connected to a frequently referred to 'incident' in Afghanistan. The group of Danish soldiers involved in said incident, along with a lawyer representing them, are killed one by one. There is a story of a mysterious officer calling himself 'Perk' that was part of the issue. The claim is that civilians have been killed by the Danish soldiers. The group leader, Roben, insists that the culprit is this Perk, but his even being there (and his mere existence) has been denied by special forces. And once again, politicians are also involved in what starts to appear like a cover-up the longer the investigation lasts.

Sarah Lund, who has been recalled from her boring assignment in Sweden to assist with the investigation, goes again off into her own direction and more than once she is wrong in trusting her instincts, but through her irrational methods uncovers details that prove to be vital.

In season one, as the investigation moved along and new details about suspects emerged, we moved from one possible murderer to the next (and we did it with Lund-esque conviction). Back then it was always clear (to me, anyway) that it must have been someone we encountered early on (because that is how these shows work). The same applies for season two, only here - when the culprit took shape - I did not see it coming. Like, at all.

The show picked up speed around mid-season. At first, I had some difficulty staying with it because it lacked the grieving family that you could feel for enough and will the investigation to move forward. Most of the people in this are unsympathetic. The only one that had an air of likability was the newly installed justice minister. He, however, did through his principles overboard in the end to play at being politician for the sake of it.

Solid.

6/10

Forbrydelsen (The Killing) - Season 1

This is an excellent, excellent show.

It starts with the discovery of some bloody bits and pieces in an open field. Sarah Lund, on her very last on the Copenhagen police force (she is about to move to Sweden with her fiance) gets the seemingly minor case. She has to work along with her successor, Jan Meyer.

Quickly, it becomes clear that the case involves the disappearance of Nanna Birk Larsen, a 19 year old college student. After the discovery of her body in a car dumped in some lake. The car is part of a fleet belonging to the campaign office of local politician Troels Harmann.

The investigation starts at Nanna's school, with her friends and former boyfriend acting suspiciously. When nothing much comes of investigating them, the focus turns to one of Nanna's teachers, who saw her the night she disappeared and has been seen to remove something that could have been a body into a friends car. The secret he hides, however, turns out to be something entirely different, but not before Nanna's father takes the law into his own hands and is stoped just in time before killing him.

All the while, circumstential evidence (the car, the party flat, surveillance tapes) mounts against Hartmann, who is running for mayor. He is in and out of police custody, his alibi crumbles, and the political vultures circle over his head. He does get cleared, eventually, but the focus stays at town hall. As a consequence, a civil servant is killed in a hit-and-run, presumably because he knew to much about a moderate politician, who had an affair with Nanna until half a year previously. After he gets shot by police, the evidence against him is deemed enough to shut the case.

Doubts about his guilt arise when similar cases get connected to Nanna's, that go back some 15 years. We are now looking for a serial killer. While Lund's life falls apart around her and she seems to be out of her depth, the investigation moves closer to home, and now men working for Nanna's father become suspects. Lund cuts a lot of corners, and one of her unauthorized investigations costs her partner his life.

Her persistence and instinct are what cracks the case eventually, but it is a costly victory.

The US version has nothing on the Danish original, least of all a lead actress that awesome.

7/10



Peeping Tom

Messed up kids turn into messed up adults. Documented in: Peeping Tom.

Mark was raised a test subject for his father, a psychologist studying fear in his child growing up. There was always a camera on the boy to record his fearful reaction to different situations and scares put upon him.

As an adult now he studies fear in others - young women he kills and films at the moment they realize that they are about to die. Basically, he was making snuff before the genre was widely known. And he is desperately trying to get caught, barely taking any precaution when killing and returning to the scene of the crime to film police at work and people's reaction when the bodies are discovered.

Ironically the one person that 'sees' right through him and realizes how troubled he is, is the blind woman living downstairs.

The film received harsh reviews when it was released, practically ending director Michael Powell's career. In the 1970s, however, it received reappraisal and has since become a cult film, prompting Mr. Powell's comment in his autobiography, "I make a film that nobody wants to see and then, thirty years later, everybody has either seen it or wants to see it."

6/10

Salinui chueok (Memories of Murder)

This is based on an actual series of murders that took place in rural South Korea between 1986 and 1991. I don't know how much of the film corresponds with actual events. The number of victims is never mentioned (there were 10 attributed to the same killer). However, some of the details and modes of the murders were taken from the real crimes.

The film is elegantly bleak and beautifully shot with a very tense atmosphere that keeps you watching even though (if you checked, as I did) you do know that the killer was never caught (in film and in reality).

It is said to feature some political commentary on the military rule of the late 1980s that you probably only get if you are from South Korea. I don't know enough about the history of, well, most of Asia, to get it. However, this doesn't make the film any less interesting.

I really enjoyed this.

7/10

Wolf Creek

If you ever consider going to Australia and doing the road trip/back packer thing - don't. If you don't get killed by some redneck hick in the middle of nowhere surely one of the ridiculously poisonous creatures will kill you. How do I know that? Through many, many Australian horror films, of course.

It all starts out nicely enough. You hang out on some beach or other, getting drunk and sleeping on the beach and it's all fun and games until your car just won't start again when it's all dark out and you're in an area called Wolf Creek. I mean, it could have stalled in Emu Creek, but that just doesn't sound creepy enough. Then you obviously run into some scary looking guy that pretends to be all helpful but turns out to be this serial killer that can merrily hack tourists into pieces because he lives at a place so remote that - even if you kinda sorta know the general area it is located in - cannot be pinpointed by authorities because the place is just so fucking big and empty. And, anyway, people disappear in Australia all the time (so, why again would you want to go there?).

Sure, you might be able to escape. But where do you go? What if you're on foot? Remember: you are miles and miles of deserted country roads from any civilization, because you did this wannabe hippie road trip thing. So even if you think you have escaped and by chance should meet another human being willing to help you, the bad guy is still out there hunting you and the good samaritan will be collateral damage.

Because bad guys in horror film simply do not die. Like, ever. Nevermind that you shot him and stabbed him. He will come after you. And he will find you.

True story.

4/10