UNDERRATED HORROR - Silent Night Deadly Night

The '80s. What a decade for the history of horror. The Shining, The Thing, The Terminator and Aliens, among others, would be released and define the word 'classic' when it comes to horror films. It was also a time when censorship and age ratings were becoming a prominent force in the film industry with the advent of the 'Video Nasties' list and outrage at the exploitation movies that were available in the market on VHS. Since the PG-13 age rating wasn't introduced until 1984, horror movie directors chopped tried to "chop" a lot of the bloody elements of their films out in order to obtain a PG-13 rating, ultimately allowing a wider audience to view their pictures. It was a hard time for directors to present their projects in all of their entirety for the public to see, although they still got away with a LOT of things which in today's ridiculous culture of total and utter political correctness, would be viewed as unacceptable.

Then, a movie called Silent Night Deadly Night, in the year of 1984 unveiled itself and stirred up an insane amount of controversy to the point where the beloved American film critics Siskel and Ebert 'name and shamed' the film on their movie review show At The Movies, but this would only add to the overall buzz of the film, which at the end of the day equals money, and lots of it.

Silent Night Deadly Night was directed by Charles Sellier, a director who was known for his predominantly religious films. The plot concerns a teenager, Billy, who when he was 4 years old, survived an attack by a man who donned a Santa outfit. Billy's father and brother were murdered, with his mother raped before being murdered. Billy soon after, is raised in a foster home overseen by the disturbingly harsh Mother Superior, a nun who is unforgiving in her punishments. Years later, Billy is a seemingly normal 18 year old teenager who gets a job at a supermarket. As Christmas is approaching, he's asked to wear a Santa outfit around the store as an attraction for the local kids, but this clicks in his head and then the shit hits the fan.

Overall, the film plays out like your typical slasher film, but in a contradicting way, there is a craft at it's core. The scenes which act as flashbacks for the character of Billy are done rather well and you will feel disgusted for what the little boy has witnessed and been through. The killings, which you expect are present, are gruesome, but not jaw dropping gory. I've a soft spot for this film and it has grown on me as one of the better slasher films of the '80s with a coherent plot, convincing portrayals of it's characters and direction that is typical of a low budget horror.

The film, although a cult classic, would probably be not as well remembered if not for it's controversy that it received following the airing of the trailer for the movie on the television, which showed Billy wearing a Santa outfit and holding an axe. Understandably, during day time television, this would have turned some heads, with mothers going absolutely berserk demanding the film was taken out of theatres and the people involved put out of business. People picketed, the news covered it, and the money rolled in for the film with an estimated grossing of 2,500,000 with it's 750,000 dollar budget, even outgrossing Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street on it's opening weekend.

There were 3 more films made in what would be made a franchise, with the second entry being the most infamous due to it's outrageous nature, almost overshadowing it's precursor.

As a horror movie fan I would definitely recommend it. Consider it taboo if you will, but at the heart of it all is a solid holiday slasher flick. "Punishment is absolute".

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (with spoilers)

So yesterday I had seen a new Star Wars film in the cinema. Saying that alone is so strange, but it happened and needless to say due to the previous installments in the series, I was skeptical heading in, but still overwhelmingly excited. Then the classic crawl came up and the reaction was unbelievable, unlike any other cinema experience. The world had once again been engulfed in Star Wars fever. The relief when the crawl contained no convoluted blather about trade routes, taxation and the senate was almost palpable. From here on out there was constant grinning with moments of shock and tears (I cried) as I came to realize we were watching fresh and new direction in a franchise that had almost grown stale with mediocrity and money grabbing.

I will mention spoilers, so please be warned as the last thing I want to do is ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it.

The new characters, which are the most pivotal part of the universe, were all played excellently. Adam Driver's performance is personally the standout as the Darth Vader fanboy Kylo Ren. From his introduction to Max Von Sydow's character, we're shown that this man has pure evil inclinations at his core, desperate to do anything in his way to find the missing piece of the map to Luke Skywalker's whereabouts. At times we see conflictions in his morality, but nothing too drastic to snap him out of the evil state. Overall, the scenes involving Driver's character are enthralling and I couldn't take my eyes off him for one second, trying to predict his reaction to certain information or acts.

Finn, the rogue stormtrooper of the First Order, played by Jon Boyega, has a charming energy about him and is a very humorous character, something not easily pulled off in these films, usually tried but coming off as cheesy or just awkward. From the opening scene again we see stormtroopers who are ordered to slaughter innocents in a village and one hesitates under the helmet and it's immediately recognisable that this person is conflicted about what he wants and does not belong here.

Poe Dameron while not given much screen time, is cemented as a daring resistance pilot and one of the best in the field. Oscar Isaac does a good job with the little screen time he has and sets up a laidback but driven character to be used in the next installments.

Rey. played by Daisy Ridley, is also a standout along with Driver as a bright star the franchise has to offer. She's a scavenger on the planet of Jakku (similar to Tatooine) who scrapes by to make ends meat. There's a scene where she's slaving away in her remote village clearly unhappy and she sees a ship take off, exiting the planet and from the expression on Rey's face we're given everything we need to know, she's a bright girl that dreams of so much bigger, in a character arc very similar to Luke Skywalker's in the original Star Wars film.

The cast from the original trilogy all make reappearances, although not much emphasis is placed on them compared to the new generation, which is rightfully so. Star Wars is about the characters and the generations, and the original trilogy's character's stories are concluded in Return of the Jedi. Their time is over for the most part, it's time to pass the torch down. This was done very well throughout the film.

It's hard as a Star Wars fan not to be blinded by nostalgia and side with the franchise I love over it's faults, but while I was watching this film, I seriously found it hard to fault it. Sure there's discrepancies with certain characters and the force, an example is a scene when Rey is captured and chained down and she realises all of a sudden that the Jedi Mind trick is a thing, it came off as a little cheap but I understand she was supposed to have learned that she's strong with the force during her confrontation with Ren as he's pressing for answers. Another strange moment is when Finn all of a sudden is wielding a lightsaber as if he's been training for years, but this is just nitpicking to be honest.

BB-8 the droid you've seen advertised everywhere is also a worthy addition to the characters in the new trilogy. He has moments that are there to just be cute but they're not aplenty, and the fact he's a practical thing and not some digital effect makes him more tangible and likable.

I've a few more gripes; one fault that the film has is underutilised characters. A prime example is Captain Phasma, who you would think would have a lot to show off in the film but is only in a couple of scenes and comes off as a really pointless character, but i'm sure she'll have more to do in the following films. Domhnall Gleeson delivers one hell of a Nazi like speech, and other than that is the classic English accented Imperial officer.
Another problem I have is how underwhelming Supreme Leader Snoke felt. It's as if the main reason that he's so intimidating to the characters is because he appears huge; not because of what he can do. Vader and the Emperor struck fear in the previous films by showing raw power, not just appearance. On top of that the CG looked pretty mediocre, he could've looked better.
Just a last problem, as it's not a flawless film, is how I was disappointed with how less populated the universe in the film felt. If there's one good thing the prequels did it's how they portrayed the galaxy far, far away as a place bustling with people going about their business in these landscapes, and although they were CGI, they were at times interesting and captivating, like Coruscant. It feels like in The Force Awakens that they were trying too much with filming on location like in A New Hope that the universe didn't feel alive enough. That's not to say filming on location didn't work, because it did wonderfully. Abu Dhabi and Skellig Michael had scenes beautifully implemented into their region.

The scene between Solo and Ren with Solo trying to bring his son back from the brink of insanity is heartbreaking but perfectly done, with Chewie wailing just bringing the tears out. Personally, the ending was perfect. It felt so much in the veins of the original trilogy with a cliffhanger like that, instead of the nature of the prequel's endings with everything tied up in a neat bow. People will probably be frustrated with how everything isn't answered in the film, but that's what's great, it makes you so excited for the next installment, just like cliffhanger in The Empire Strikes Back and the 3 year gap that followed.
The film followed the formula of A New Hope A LOT, and although that isn't a bad thing, it can at times feel like rehashing ideas, although the tragic moments in the film are a lot more emphasised than they were in A New Hope.

Overall, JJ Abrams has did what we all thought was impossible, he brought back Star Wars from the laughing stock period of the early 2000's and cemented it further into pop culture and reinvigorated it with the magic the audiences back in 1977 felt when they were witnessing the first film of it's kind.
When the film was over and I got home, I actually wanted to go watch it again, I haven't felt like that after seeing a film in such a long time and i'm sure that's one of the highest compliments the cast and crew could receive. They set out to make Star Wars film in the same vein of the classic films, and that's exactly what they achieved.