Skew (2011) The More I Think About This Movie...

...the more I like it.

Skew had me thinking.  Not just during the movie, which is always a positive, but after.  Long after.  It made me think about everything I saw during the course of the film and every line of dialogue.  It especially made me think about a final scene enough that I went back and watched the final few minutes over again.  The final frame froze me in my tracks.  Figuratively, of course. I don't usually pace around the room when I watch movies.

The last found footage/cinema vertite/first person film to make me formulate ideas and theories long after I shut it down was The Last Exorcism, which I enjoyed more after I watched it as well.  My theories may not be right, but it's fun to think them up.  The last shot in Skew is a game-changer.  It made me go back over everything I had just seen and re-think all of it.  It's chilling and exciting at the same time.  Like a goofball fawning over a double rainbow, I felt like laugh-shouting, "What does it MEAN?"

Basically, Skew is a story told from one point of view, first-person-style.  It's deftly written and directed by Sevé Schelenz about three friends on a road trip.  Some movies could tell a story with just that, but Schelenz goes much further.  Simon (Robert Scattergood) wants to document the entire trip to a friend's wedding with his spankin' new camcorder.  Buddies Rich (Richard Olak) and Eva (Amber Lewis) pick him up but there's already tension because Simon has just had a fight with his girlfriend Laura (Taneal Cutting).  Eva goes inside to convince Laura to go anyway, but is given the cold shoulder.  The three head out on the road and after some friendly shenanigans and typical road trip fun, strange things begin to happen.  Hey, you knew they would.  It starts when they hit a coyote on the road, then check in to a local motel.  Simon films the desk clerk and finds his face distorted and twisted.  Later that night, the clerk is found dead and police are everywhere.  But it doesn't stop there.

An entire bus full of tourists winds up dead after being filmed through Simon's lens, and the weirdness is just getting started.  Terrifying things happen.  Tensions flare.  Nerves are stretched thin.  Visions intrude (but only for Simon).  Secrets are confessed, one of which brings friends closer, another which tears them apart.  It all comes to a head, and when the final few minutes finally air, we get some answers and one huge reveal that might give you more questions to ponder.

And my friends, sometimes that ain't all bad.

Sometimes I like being left with a few questions partially answered...or not answered at all.  It's good exercise for the brainpan to be given some slack to dance around the information it's been given, see it from different angles.  Too often, audiences are spoon-fed the answers and soon grow to demand it.  Look at some (some, I say) of the frustration with the TV show, Lost.  Answers were deliberately held back, but there were those who got angry because every little detail wasn't revealed.  But I digress.

Skew wasn't without a couple faults, the way I saw it.  I understand and very much appreciate the importance of a slow build, but there were a few spots where dialogue and non-action felt a touch snail-like.  But I'm definitely willing to look past those slow spots because the acting was very good, very genuine.  It's hard to pick out a single star, and I have to hand it to Scattergood for basically what amounts to voice acting, as it is through his perspective that we see the film.  Olak is a study in a breakdown as he goes from jaunty slacker-ish guy to hard-drinking angry friend on the verge of blowing his top.  Lewis is the voice of reason, the almost angelic one that everyone loves.  She tries so hard to keep the three together with so much going on behind her eyes.  The script is natural and flowing, and the direction is tight, especially during the scenes of mounting tension or utter creepiness.  I'm not alone in looking forward to Schelenz' next body of work.

Give yourself some time and have a gander at Skew.  It's a fine entry in the current "found footage craze," even though it's technically a forerunner, since it was actually filmed in 2005.  It doesn't have the frantic craziness of, say, a [REC], but for genuine creeps and chills, it makes a damn strong case for itself.

Now here, take a look at the trailer if you like. *warning: some language and possible spoiler-ish stuff*

End Of The Line (2007) Maybe They Should Put Up Billboards

Look at me, being all timely.  Well, sort of.  I mean, that piece of work, the bubbly Harold Camping did recently give another one of his spot-on predictions for the end of the world (two weeks ago as of this writing), and he's got another apocalyptic prediction scheduled for October.  Among the first things I thought of, other than the usual disdain that I feel towards money-grubbing, victim-creating crackpots, was the low-budget horror film End Of The Line, an interesting little apocalyptic flick that I saw a couple years ago.  The hamster wheel began turning in my head, and I thought it would be fun to look at it again in the light of all the Family Radio hullabaloo.

Hullabaloo.  Man, how old am I?

Anyway, End Of The Line was a small 2007 film written and directed by Maurice Devereaux, and it was a darling at several film festivals, including the Toronto Film Festival.  Touching on the subject of religious zeal, mob mentality, and fear of the dark and closed-in spaces, the film has its fans (and detractors) in the horror community.  Regardless, it offers a unique take on survival horror.

Karen (Ilona Elkin) heads home from her job at a psychiatric hospital, taking the local subway.  After meeting Mike (Nicholas Wright), who saves her from a seriously creepy guy named Patrick (Robin Wilcock), she boards a train for the ride home.  The train suddenly stops and several passengers, seemingly religious types from the Voice of Hope Church who wear similar clothes and acting generally nice, all get messages on their beepers.  They produce various sharp objects and begin stabbing other passengers, saying things like "God loves you" and "This is for your own good."  The train turns into an abattoir, with only a few - Karen and Mike included - making it off the train in mostly one piece.  But help isn't coming.  The land and cell phone lines are down, and the TV is showing nothing but bizarre images coming from the enigmatic preacher who heads this bizarre cult.  Apparently, they all believe that the Earth is being besieged by demons, and it is the End Times.  They show their "love" by killing others so that they're "spared" the coming apocalypse.  Karen and the survivors head into the tunnels, but getting away isn't so easy.

Man, the Backstreet Boys got DARK.

 The tunnels are crawling with Voice of Hope members, including kids, creepy guy Patrick, and even a member of the survivor's party, although she wants to rebel and go with the dude who took her virginity on the train.  One of the guys who helps them get out of a break room deep in the tunnels is even a member, despite being new and "not really a believer."  The growing paranoia adds to the tension, and Karen's occasional hallucinations don't help.  When they hole up in a control room, where they tie up Patrick, they get their first glimpse of the reverend on a TV, and the murderous chaos is widespread.  He's calling for Armageddon and a "holy rapture"...hm, sound familiar?  Hopefully, Harold Camping hasn't seen this movie.

The survivors, with the exception of the conflicted member and the boy she now loves, move on after hearing the subway workers come under attack.  The scene in which the Hope members descend upon the workers is harrowing and disturbing.  The lengths these people will go to "save" people is horrifying.  Patrick gets loose, and as the pursuing Hope members arrive, the boy and girl are killed.  In the meantime, the survivors have a bloody battle with some more Voice of Hope nutjobs and get away mostly OK, but Mike is hurt badly.  With multiple stab wounds right from the start, this movie just hates poor Mike.

 I LOVE this door!

The survivors split up, but not all of them make it.  Another page beeps for the Voice of Hope members, and they immediately cease their onslaught and take suicide pills.  Still, resident perv Patrick pursues Karen, completely off his rocker.  Karen dispatches Patrick in a most brutal way, and then the movie takes a turn for the weird...or does it?  The ambiguous ending isn't really that ambiguous if you've been paying attention. 

Look and listen during the first few minutes of the movie to pick up on the fact that the movie is not being told in a linear fashion.  While much of the ending is left open for interpretation, there are some helpful hints along the way.  The hallucinations are not coincidental or a throwaway device; they're pretty central to what's happening.  Think muffins.  Yeah, muffins possibly laced with some kind of hallucinogen run throughout the movie, and since we're seeing a lot through Karen's eyes - and she casually eats one early on - we can't always trust what she's seeing.  Are the demons real?  Did Reverend Hope have it right?  Or was he an insane but gifted strategist who plotted the horrible acts of terror?

The performances are quite good, especially from Ilona Elkin as Karen, showing strength and fragility, and Robin Wilcock as Patrick, smarmy and evil, wanting to rape his way to the end of the world.  There is a great deal of gore and scares, mixed with good amounts of tension.  Obviously the budget wasn't very large, but that doesn't matter.  Devereaux works well with what he has, and it's a nice little take on the "end of the world cult lays the nutbar smackdown on the world" subgenre.

It also bears watching since the whole Harold "You Gotta Believe Me This Time" Camping debacle.  A charismatic religious leader creating a following of human lemmings so desperate for spiritual absolution that they're willing to kill because someone tells them to commit murder is comparable to what happens out there in the real world.  How many people base their religion or politics on what someone on TV tells them?  Yeah, a frightening amount.  People who don't think for themselves and blindly follow someone with obvious agendas might be easy targets for jokes, but there's the potential for very dangerous behavior.  End Of The Line shows an extreme, fictional account.  Read the headlines if you want the real chills - or worse yet, the comments sections of any political article.  The looney-tunes in the movie might seem tame compared to what crosses some peoples' minds.

In the meantime, my dear zombie survivors, remember to steer clear of the subways if you see a lot of smiling people all dressed the same.

Pontypool (2008) A Different Kind of Infection

I don't need to expand on how much I enjoy infection horror. Don't ask me why I like it - I don't like being sick, and I don't want others to get sick. But hey, Dawn of the Dead and [REC] are among my favorite movies. It's the impossible and unlikely made realistic that draws me in, I think. When I saw the trailers for the Canadian film from Bruce McDonald, Pontypool, the idea intrigued me: the method to spread the infection isn't a bite or a sneeze or some alien spore, but words in the English language. That's the kind of outside-the-box thinking that makes me take notice.

Now, let's get some similarities out of the way. You may recall I took a look at a little film called Dead Air, which has several similar plot points. Radio talk show host trapped with some crew members while an infectious outbreak runs wild outside, of which we see very little. Seems like the same, but the paths they take are quite different. The characters are a little alike, but their goals are different: one is survival and trying to figure out how to stop something, the other is survival and trying to get back to family.


Grant Mazzy, played by perfectly grizzled Stephen McHattie (who had a wonderful part in Watchmen that was cut out), is a veteran talk radio host who has been ostracized from the big markets. He's the main star, whether he likes it or not, of small station CLSY in the Ontario town of Pontypool. On his way to the station one snowy morning, he encounters a strange woman who seems to be trying to say something, but stalks off. Arriving at the station, he sets about his normal broadcast day with producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) and engineer Laurel-Ann Drummond (Georgina Reilly). Mazzy talks about various things around Pontypool, checks in with the weather guy Ken Loney (calling from his car instead of a real helicopter), and drinks spiked coffee. Mazzy uses his strange encounter from earlier as a topic on the 911 service.

Slowly, things start getting strange. Reports trickle, then pour in, about people behaving strangely. Eventually, Ken Loney calls in, frantic that people are attacking other people, chanting slogans over and over. He mentions frantic attacks and instances of cannibalism as he runs, frightened and trying to hide. The BBC even calls in at one point to ask Mazzy his take on this horrible situation.

It's discovered that something has infected words in the English language. Mazzy even translates a burst of pirate broadcasting in the French language that spells out the danger. The broadcast ends with the warning, "Do not translate this message." Uh, oops. What words are infected? Well, nobody knows. A person could be talking, then start repeating words over and over. They become disoriented, then a little headstrong and bitey. Laurel-Ann shows the symptoms, then succumbs to the infection, uttering unheard phrases outside the soundproof booth. She also charges the glass like a rhino, disfiguring her pretty face.


Mazzy and Sydney battle to keep the infected out of the radio station (an old church) and to prevent themselves from falling victim to the strange plague. They are joined - in a very odd way - by the doctor whose clinic was initially attacked, one Dr. Mendez (Hrant Alianak). He gives some more insight into the "infected words" phenomenon, providing a clue into how to beat it - before falling to it himself. He survives long enough to leave as Mazzy and Sydney send out a looping phrase over the air that they hope will bring rescuers.

Sydney becomes infected and thinks her fate is sealed. Mazzy comes up with a plan: change the meanings of words. Change them so that the infection can't root itself in the speaker. It's a pretty creative little idea there to infect certain English words, then use meaning as an anchor for the disease to take effect. Well, it works. Sydney is cured.

But is it too late?

Despite the seemingly ambiguous ending (and the weird little snippet at the very end - still trying to figure that one out, maybe I missed something), a sequel appears to be in the works, Pontypool Changes. I'm interested to see where they go with that. As for this movie, I thought it was an interesting take on the infection horror genre. The script moves nicely, and is carried by the performance of McHattie. He always seems to resonate when he appears, whether it's as Elaine's psychiatrist lover Dr. Reston on Seinfeld or as the original Nite-Owl in Watchmen. He has a presence, and Pontypool is his movie. He delivers his lines with a growling cool that leads you to believe he really is a radio personality, and one that has paid his dues more than once.

The idea of infectious words made me think of DC Comics' Final Crisis, which I'm apt to do quite often anyway. You may remember a lengthy blog on the epic, apocalyptic comic series I wrote some time ago. The Anti-Life Equation, associated with Jack Kirby's Fourth World creations, is "mathematical proof that [supervillain] Darkseid is the true ruler of the universe" and is designed to grind humanity down to depressed, oppressed husks. If you have the time, read writer extraordinaire Grant Morrison's explanation:


I particularly like the description, "It is the E=MC² of despair."

When the Anti-Life Equation is finally loosed on the world, it's first done through the Internet:

Billions are infected right away, Oracle states later in the series. That's definitely a statement on how we rely on technology to communicate. How do you get infected? Just listen to the Equation. The Justifiers - Darkseid's human "police force" - wear helmets that broadcast the Equation on a loop so that there is no free thought left.

Infected words. Think about it. Terrifying, really. Communication as we know it would have to change. In the movie, they could change languages, but what if...? What if the infection jumped languages? What if it infected the written word?

Yikes.

Well, fellow survivors, just be glad the zombies outside our gates don't even talk. I don't think I'd want to hear their infected words...

Until next time, folks...

Trailer of the Day: Pontypool

This has the potential to be a creative new take on a tried and true genre. Kind of reminds me of the Anti-Life Equation used by Darkseid in DC Comics...

Uh-oh...comics...horror...worlds colliding...