DigDog
Lifer
- Jun 3, 2011
- 13,500
- 2,122
- 126
i watched two polar opposites, where one should be substance over style, and vice versa - but neither accomplishes what it sets forth to do
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099763/
1986 film that got a lot of praise in the later years, shot in 4:3 ... about a trio of lowlives who kill each other. Henry is a .. guy. Who meets both a girl and another guy. The girl sees the angry, violent Henry as a protector. Other Guy "Otis" is a sidekick figure, who feels empowered by Henry's violence. They go about their miserable lives in downtown Slumville and perpetrate random acts for violence for profit and kicks. Otis is then empowered enough to attempt to rape the girl, but Henry murders him. The girl reveals she loves Henry at which point he murders her too. This guy just loves murderin'.
The only praise this film will get from me is for the guerrilla filmmaking, as no permits were issued, no extras were involved, and the whole film was shot on $110k. But otherwise there's just two main scenes both of which are laughably bad, none of the three stars has any charisma, the story is not terribly clever, and considering that this came out of the gold age of hollywood, it's no surprise that it didn't do great at release.
5/10
and Love And Monsters - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2222042/
Which instead is bad for very different reasons.
The film is very well shot. Sets and photography really give the impression of a post-apocalyptic world, and i loved the exquisite artistry of the set pieces. There is an abundance of bad CGI throughout, stuff that obviously sticks out as fake, and while the scenes were good scenes, it's still something that should have been worked on.
The story is of a apocalypse scenario. Due to radiation that mankind caused, earth bugs have grown gigantic and alien.
The protagonist is The Wimp, a 18yo kid who totally sucks at life. He lives underground with a bunch of cool Zombieslayer dudes and gals who kick alien butt, but him, he's just totally incompetent.
After their compound is breached by alien bugs, he decides to set forth in the aboveground in search for his pre-cataclysm girlfriend. During this Journey of Discovery trope, where he too must learn the ways of the badass, he learns that giant carnivorous alien killer bugs are in fact really nice people too. He saves (metaphorically) humanity, gets his girl, and discovers that Man Is The Real Monster.
The actors all suck so hard. I don't mean that they act bad, but they are just lifeless cardboard actors that have no charisma and are not fit for the role. The story is one big trope and the fight scenes are reeeally slow, but the pacing is good and the photography, which is the real star, makes it watchable to the end. Uh, well, maybe not the very end. No. No the giant blue eyed crab that eats the bad guys only, yeah you can skip that scene.
6.5/10
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099763/
1986 film that got a lot of praise in the later years, shot in 4:3 ... about a trio of lowlives who kill each other. Henry is a .. guy. Who meets both a girl and another guy. The girl sees the angry, violent Henry as a protector. Other Guy "Otis" is a sidekick figure, who feels empowered by Henry's violence. They go about their miserable lives in downtown Slumville and perpetrate random acts for violence for profit and kicks. Otis is then empowered enough to attempt to rape the girl, but Henry murders him. The girl reveals she loves Henry at which point he murders her too. This guy just loves murderin'.
The only praise this film will get from me is for the guerrilla filmmaking, as no permits were issued, no extras were involved, and the whole film was shot on $110k. But otherwise there's just two main scenes both of which are laughably bad, none of the three stars has any charisma, the story is not terribly clever, and considering that this came out of the gold age of hollywood, it's no surprise that it didn't do great at release.
5/10
and Love And Monsters - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2222042/
Which instead is bad for very different reasons.
The film is very well shot. Sets and photography really give the impression of a post-apocalyptic world, and i loved the exquisite artistry of the set pieces. There is an abundance of bad CGI throughout, stuff that obviously sticks out as fake, and while the scenes were good scenes, it's still something that should have been worked on.
The story is of a apocalypse scenario. Due to radiation that mankind caused, earth bugs have grown gigantic and alien.
The protagonist is The Wimp, a 18yo kid who totally sucks at life. He lives underground with a bunch of cool Zombieslayer dudes and gals who kick alien butt, but him, he's just totally incompetent.
After their compound is breached by alien bugs, he decides to set forth in the aboveground in search for his pre-cataclysm girlfriend. During this Journey of Discovery trope, where he too must learn the ways of the badass, he learns that giant carnivorous alien killer bugs are in fact really nice people too. He saves (metaphorically) humanity, gets his girl, and discovers that Man Is The Real Monster.
The actors all suck so hard. I don't mean that they act bad, but they are just lifeless cardboard actors that have no charisma and are not fit for the role. The story is one big trope and the fight scenes are reeeally slow, but the pacing is good and the photography, which is the real star, makes it watchable to the end. Uh, well, maybe not the very end. No. No the giant blue eyed crab that eats the bad guys only, yeah you can skip that scene.
6.5/10
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