Playing Catch-Up

So, I obviously haven't updated lately. I wish I had some worthy excuse, but the truth is that I have just been lazy. And I continue to be lazy, which is why I'm just going to write a few quick blurbs about the stuff I've watched lately.

The Signal
Every year I manage to find at least one great horror movie, and I can now check this year off the list. The Signal is far from flawless, but it has ambition, ideas, good performances, and does a fantastic job at hiding its small budget. The plot: Every TV, radio and phone begins broadcasting a chaotic signal. Anyone exposed to the signal for too long is suddenly filled with the urge to murder. Naturally, the world goes to Hell pretty quickly. The film is divided into three vignettes, which it calls "transmissions." The first transmission deals with Mya, who has been having an affair with Ben, arousing the suspicions of her husband Lewis. Mya's story takes us through the beginning of the outbreak, and is the fastest-paced of the three sections. The hilarious second act focuses on what can be considered either the greatest or worst New Year's party that has ever shown up on film, as Lewis tries to find Mya. Lewis' story is noteworthy because it establishes the POV of an infected person. In their mind the violence is completely rational. The final story follows Ben as he tries to find Mya before Lewis does. The movie's moral is pretty heavy-handed during the last stretch, but it has a clever climax (using a person's distorted perspective against them), and Ben is a great protagonist. Most of the reviews I've read claim that The Signal is destined to become a cult classic. It definitely deserves to be. The recently-released DVD features three additional "transmission" short films, and they show the outbreak from a few other perspectives (people working at a TV station, a man in a Best Buy-type of store, and a family on a road trip). Well worth a Netflix rental.

Rogue
Wow, two decent horror movies in the first six months of 2008? That's unprecedented. Before I say anything further, let me give this disclaimer: Rogue is a movie about a giant killer crocodile. As such, there's only so good a movie within the "giant killer animal" genre can ever get. Rogue is one of the better ones I've seen. The plot is nothing new, but the direction is solid, and the characters act like they actually have brains. Radha Mitchell operates a sight-seeing boat in Australia. Michael Vartan is a travel writer from Chicago who is doing a piece on the outback. While giving the tour, Mitchell sees an emergency flare and must respond. They find a sunken boat, and a croc that could kick the crap out of the ones in Lake Placid. The boat is run aground on a small island, and the rest of the movie involves the various schemes to traverse the distance between the island and the shore. A surprising amount of thought goes into their plans. I was reminded rather oddly of last summer's Sunshine, where decisions are made based on which plans have the most favorable risk-assessment. And while a few of the deaths are predictable (minor characters are minor for a reason), a couple are quite surprising. Best of all, the movies lets the crocodile act like a crocodile. The small island is barely bigger than the croc itself, and the croc could walk right onto land at any time and kill everyone. But it doesn't, because it only becomes aggressive when the humans invade its territory, which unfortunately is the water between the island and the shore. I realize this still sounds like a Sci-Fi Channel movie, but I assure you it's a well-made creature feature that is far more enjoyable than that shitty Prom Night remake that made $40 million.

Tooth & Nail
The After Dark Horrfest has been going on for two years now, and has so far highlighted sixteen films. All of them have been bad. Tooth & Nail is just plain terrible, which is unfortunate because it starts out really interesting. In a post-apocalyptic world, Rider Strong (Cabin Fever) and Michael Kelly (2004's Dawn of the Dead, TV's The Shield) are members of a survivors group led by Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds). They are trying to live a peaceful life and slowly rebuild some form of society. One day they stumble upon a man being cannibalized. After scaring away the cannibal, they find a wounded Rachel Miner (Bully), the victim's girlfriend. They take her back to their home, and a few days later are being besieged by a gang of cannibals, called "Rovers," whose ranks include Vinnie Jones (Snatch) and Michael Madsen (no reference here, you should just know who he is by now). The setup has the appeal of a great, trashy B-movie, but the execution becomes scattered and boring after the first twenty minutes. It wastes the cast (especially Jones and Madsen, though Carradine gives a performance way above the material), and lets the plot unravel with all the grace of a water balloon hitting a brick wall.

Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs
I won't give away plot details, but I thought this was a marked improvement over the first Futurama movie. The jokes are better, and the movie isn't trying to cram itself full of minor characters and throwback references like Bender's Big Score did. Guest voice work by David Cross is great, and Brittany Murphy does well as the woman Fry yearns for. And while continuity and plot have never been a huge priority of the Futurama series, there is a lingering plot development at the end of this film that changes the dynamic between some of the characters in a way that really wasn't expected. I'm very curious where they will take this in the next movie (you'll know what I mean when you watch it).