2012 Viewing Journal #11

"The Woman in Black"

After a strong two thirds, this Hammer Studios film flails (and fails) badly, falling victim to serious third act contrivances which work to end the film, but to end it poorly. I'm not talking about (only) the final minutes, which were fine, but rather the plot mechanisms that led up to the resolution.

Overall, though, a strong, spooky, Gothic film that I'd probably recommend.

"The Human Centipede 2"

Strange reaction to this one. First off, I kinda loved it. It's a professionally produced, well acted, ridiculously funny and audacious piece of filmmaking. It's ludicrous in concept, explicit in execution and 'fuck you' in message. Filmmaker Tom Six boldly stated that he was going to go nuts-out on this sequel and stick it to the first movie haters who cried foul at some of the off screen violence. He certainly did.

Secondly, after watching an interview with Tom Six on the Blu-ray, I realized what an idiot the guy is. Whatever satirical or thematic credit I gave to him was washed away when hearing him speak. He's simply one of those guys you see at horror movie conventions producing nun-rape/shot-on-video movies for shock's sake. He just has financial backers.

Still. Pretty fun stuff. But, please, read up on it before you go taking my recommendation. It's very sick stuff.