 |
Paranormal Activity 4 (Blu-ray)
by Drewster_Rooster
After the hugely successful "Paranormal Activity" took everyone by surprise by the amount of praise it received it was inevitable that the sequels would follow. PA 4 is the latest instalment in the Paranormal Activity franchise, newly released on DVD and BluRay and a film I was looking forward to watching given the fact that I ... was one of the people who enjoyed the other films in the series.
As usual with this franchise PA 4 is presented in 'found footage' format, there are no opening credits and the DVD/BluRay allows you to select if you want to watch the Theatrical version of the film or the Extended one. Starting from a black screen and with no incidental music we are introduced to what looks like an everyday typical American family consisting of Mom, dad their daughter and son. The date stamp on screen tells us that these events take place in 2011 (some 5 years after the first PA film) and we quickly establish that this all-American family appears to be perfectly average. Setting us up with some background information we quickly learn that the daughter, Alex has a boyfriend and the pair communicate online via Skype as well as their upto date Smartphones and they film various family events that take place which we watch before the paranormal activity begins.
As usual though with these films there's more than meets the eye with the family and pretty soon they're facing some extraordinary occurances that happen in their home, of course the parents are oblivious to what's going off around them at first and it's Alex and her boyfriend who begin to notice the strange things that are taking place. They're suspicious of Alex's brothers new friend, Robbie. He's a strange child; quiet and a bit withdrawn but new to the neighbourhood and lives with his mother. But who is he? and how does this film tie in with the others in the series? I'd tell you to watch to find out, but you'd be wasting an hour and half of your life if you do...
Writing as a fan of the PA franchise I have to say that this film left me cold, and that wasn't due to the frights. By far the weakest of the four films in the series this one relied on too many cheap jumps and very little genuinely unsettling scenes that were so effectively done in the other films. I do like the 'found footage' sub-genre and a couple of the films in this series have been 5 star films for me but PA 4 felt like a terrible let down that despite tying in very well to the first film just didn't live up to my expectations.
I can't criticise the cast in the film, the character of Alex was well played and really quite likeable and even the young boys playing the brother and his friend were suitably spooky when they needed to be, the pacing of the film though was terrible and even though there has to be periods where nothing happens in order to set up the scares here they were too long and too tedious. I hate cheap jump-moments and a cat jumping at the camera is as cheap as you can get in films of this nature, similarly Alex's boyfriend creeping up behind her for no reason other than to make us, the audience jump too made me think that this instalment was going for the easy way out. Conversely though when the 'genuine' paranormal activity is shown on screen it is quite good but there's just so little of it that its impact doesn't have the same effect as it did before. Anyone familiar with the other films in the series will know how these work now and whilst it does play on the 'expect the unexpected' you can see what's going to happen before it actually does and that for me was a let down. The only saving grace as far as I was concerned about this film was the ending but 5 seconds of genuine surprise at the very end of the film didn't make up for the tediousness of what went before hence my very poor appraisal of it here.
Tying the events to the first film and this one was good, the 'twist' (if you can call it that) wasn't so good but could catch some by surprise and obviously I won't discuss it here for spoiler reasons. What was annoying for me about PA 4 was the fact that it should have been a lot better than it actually was as there is plenty going for it with a good cast, clear framing shots that capture the activity and a good tie-in to the first film. Instead it felt like a cop out with too many cheap scares and not enough content to fully hold my attention unlike the others in the series and even though the film does explain some more about what we learnt in the first film it's by no means an essential watch for any fan of the franchise.
There are some decent moments but these are fleeting, however watched in the right environment (lights out, volume turned up) could heighten the experience if anyone is wanting to see the film themselves but even then I think there's too much time where nothing is happening to fully engross anyone into keeping their eyes firmly fixed on the screen. Compared to the other 3 films this is by far the weakest and wouldn't be the best place to start if you're coming to them as a new viewer although anyone who has seen the other 3 films will probably want to see this, as I did, just to keep up with the franchise. Be prepared for disappointment though is all I would say.
I was sent the Blu Ray version of the film from Lovefilm although given how it's filmed I wouldn't say it benefits from a High Definition format, because the characters are using newer technology to record the events than previous films I did notice that this one is less grainy in its presentation but even so it's not a film to watch in HD I don't think. There are sparse extras, namely a few deleted scenes and the opportunity to watch the extended version of the film but I can't imagine that the extra footage includes anything too important that it was missed from the theatrical version of the film and at 96 minutes as opposed to 88 for the original version it is a little too long. Appropriately rated 15 given the suspense nature of the film which does contain a few genuinely unsettling scenes and a couple of decent scares though isn't too terrifying that it has you reaching for the cushions to hide behind.
All in all a very disappointing 2 stars as a rating from me. Paranormal Activity 4 is the weakest in the series of films and should have been a lot better than it was though don't expect the franchise to slow down anytime soon as PA 5 is already being touted as a future release and I don't think that this story is fully over quite yet.
Thanks for reading.
Read the complete review |
 |
I Saw the Devil (Blu-ray)
by hogsflesh
This Blu-ray is currently £8 on amazon.
After Oldboy broke through in the West, loads of Korean films were released in the UK and US. Two that I remember enjoying were the wrestling comedy The Foul King and the sinister kind-of horror A Tale of Two Sisters. The director of those films, Jee-woon Kim, made I Saw the Devil in ... 2010. It's a violent and unpleasant revenge film.
Joo-yeon is engaged to handsome secret service agent Kim Soo-hyeon. She's also pregnant, but hasn't told him that yet. Unfortunately her car gets a flat tire, and while waiting for a tow-truck she is beaten into unconsciousness and abducted by a serial killer, Kyung-chul. He murders and dismembers her. Kim hunts the killer down, but instead of killing him outright, he plants a tracking device on him. He then follows the increasingly confused murderer around, interrupting him whenever he's about to kill someone and inflicting savage beatings on him.
The plot is more than a bit silly, but it works anyway. It's not really clear how Kim manages to track down the killer before the police (he has access to some police files, but so do the police, obviously). Likewise, later on, it's not clear how exactly Kyung-chul finds out where several key characters live. Nor is it clear how Kyung-chul finds his friends, a couple of cannibalistic serial killers he holes up with for a while. The bug, planted in the killer's stomach, gives ridiculously good sound quality when Kim wants to eavesdrop on conversations, but never seems to pick up any stomach gurgling. And obviously the whole idea of letting a serial killer go about his grisly business in the expectation that you'll be able to show up in the nick of time to save his victims is folly of the first order.
So this isn't a film that you can really take all that seriously just based on plot. It's hard to tell how seriously we're expected to take it. I've not seen a huge number of Korean films (I suspect a very small percentage gets released outside of Korea). But this does have some similarities to OldBoy. Both are about revenge, and both have antiheroes who become as bad as the person they're pitted against. Both feature moments of wince-inducing violence. Both use Western-sounding classical music on the soundtracks (including at least one well-known real tune in each film). The shot composition and ways the camera movies are also frequently very similar. The films also share the same lead actor.
Some people have also compared it to Seven. One aspect of it is kind of similar, I guess, but this isn't a police procedural. The 'good guy' is operating illegally too, and his actions put others at risk in a way that makes it impossible to really sympathise with him. It's all too obvious that his plan is going to go wrong in a hideous way, while Seven keeps us guessing pretty well up until the final scene.
Like Oldboy, I Saw The Devil has an almost nonchalant approach to violence. There's some very nasty stuff in here. Some of the violence is silly - no one can take as much head trauma as these characters do and still keep going. But some of it is just horrible. Most of Kyung-chul's victims are young, pretty women, and he generally tries to rape them before killing them. Most of these scenes are interrupted by Kim, who administers punishment beatings, but they're still unpleasant to watch. Even nastier are tortures to characters' ankles, mouths, faces. The worst and nastiest violence we see is directed against male characters, so this isn't some sleazy video-nasty parade of misogyny. But the violence often feels gratuitous, and the camera frequently shows things you'd expect it to cut away from.
The film is exceptionally well made. The direction is excellent; it's one of those films where almost every shot is lovely, even when the subject matter is horrid. It often generates very effective suspense, and the action scenes are exciting and convincingly visceral. There are some great little moments of humour scattered throughout the film. My favourite was when Kyung-chuk flags down a car at night, intending to kill the driver, only to find to his embarrassment that it's full of soldiers.
But the film is too long. It's almost two and a half hours, and it really doesn't need to be. People making films that long generally think they have something important to say. I'm not really sure this film does. Sure, revenge is ultimately not as satisfying as we think it will be. But we don't need 145 minutes to learn that. And of course the guy chasing the killer becomes as bad as the killer. That's obviously going to happen; it always does. I guess it's a problem with serial killer films these days. Thanks to Seven and Silence of the Lambs, they have to pretend to some kind of depth.
The acting is great, though. Min-sik Choi, the star of Oldboy, is just as good here as the loathsome murderer. In Oldboy he managed to stay likeable even as his character descended into appalling violence; here he is never even remotely sympathetic. In fact he's terrifying - like Michael Rooker in Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, he is blank faced and unpredictable and you genuinely fear for any women who cross his path. Byung-hun Lee as his nemesis is also very good, his calm, collected façade gradually breaking down as he ends up hopelessly out of his depth, his actions backfiring on him in all kinds of horrifying ways. It might have been good to learn a bit more about his background, though, as he is far too good to be true: a loving partner to his fiancée, an expert at using bugs and tracking people down, and a ludicrously good hand-to-hand fighter.
The rest of the acting is more than competent, but no one else stands out particularly. Obviously my lack of Korean language skills limits how well I can judge performances. There are other murderers, including an amusingly sleazy cannibal (the film is blackly comic on many occasions, which helps lighten up what might otherwise be an unwatchably nasty story). It's a bit silly how many other murderers there are in the film, in fact, as Kyung-chul has an encounter with a pair of killers in a taxi that provides some good old-fashioned, arterial-spraying, bloody violence.
I enjoyed the film for the most part (if enjoyed is the right word). The plot is unrealistic, but I've never been too worried about that. The violence is genuinely nasty, and some people will be put off by the occasionally inconsistent tone of the violent sequences (sometimes gruellingly serious, sometimes almost slapstick). But I'd say that if you enjoyed Oldboy (and other, similar films) then you'll probably like I Saw The Devil.
As with all modern films, it would be pretty disgraceful if the picture quality on the Blu-ray wasn't good. Happily, it is - every drop of blood is visible, and there's enough detail for you to be able to tell that, for instance, a foot that is being tortured is not a real human foot but a special effect - real skin has pores! The colours are strong, the blacks look black, and I could see nothing to complain about.
The extras are less impressive. There's about 20 minutes of slightly dull interview with the director (like the film, this is in Korean with subs) and a few minutes with Min-sik Choi. When the director says one of the stars was like pouring rain and the other like light drizzle it's impossible not to think of Spinal Tap. Maybe something is being lost in translation.
The 'making of' is just a collection of behind-the-scenes footage with no interviews or anything to bind it together. It's quite interesting, as these things always are - it's always novel to see actors popping in and out of character for takes etc - but it's hardly essential viewing. A couple of trailers round out the package.
It's an impressive film, though, and worth getting hold of for those who don't mind horrifying violence. It's inexpensive enough to be worth a punt (and I'm sure the DVD is perfectly adequate if you don't have a Blu-ray player.
Read the complete review |
