Bad Moon (1996)

I picked up this movie in a cheapie bin, because I'm a sucker for werewolf movies, and was pleasantly surprised by what is a pretty decent werewolf movie -- I'd give it a B+ to be honest. It's a small movie, and is fairly straight and to the point. I was surprised to see Michael Paré in it, and Mariel Hemingway, of all people. Set in the Pacific Northwest, it follows a single stay-at-home mom who is some kind of lawyer (it appears to require a lot of telecommuting and use of a laptop). She and her son and their dog, the German Shepherd, Thor, live in an upper-middle class kind of redoubt bordering on the woods. Her brother, Ted (played by Paré), is a lycanthrope, and basically the story spins off from there, as complications ensue, with the dog being an integral character in the course of the story (of course, the tip-off is in the opening credits, when you see that the source material is a book entitled "Thor" -- so, you figure the dog is going to be fairly prominent in it). The movie is written and directed by Eric "The Hitcher" Red, so you know it's somebody who at least has the understanding of how to craft suspense in a movie. The werewolf looks suitably monstrous, and is not CGI (although some computer graphics are used to show a transformation at the climax). The "real" presence of the werewolf in the scenes makes it more effective, in my view, despite the whole "Man in the Rubber Suit" effect. The monster looks convincing, and Mariel Hemingway looks suitably scared when things get out of hand. A small movie in terms of budget and aspirations, it ultimately achieves what it sets out to do; they could have probably added another 10 minutes to flesh out the principal characters' relationship with one another a bit more, or at least offer some kind of narrative conflict for when big sister realizes what her little brother's become. But overall, it's a satisfying werewolf movie, way better than I expected.

Ravenous (1999)

You know, "Ravenous" was a total flop -- all these years later, it's still not even come close to making its budget (maybe 1/6th of the way there). I remember it appearing, and disappearing from theaters almost immediately (I know because it was out one week and I thought "I should go catch this" and delayed and the next thing I knew, it was gone), but the concept of it appealed to me, and I watched it years ago (weird to think that 1999 is now a long time ago, really -- doesn't feel so long ago). Anyway, I think this movie will stand the test of time as a cult classic. Maybe it's not there, yet, maybe it'll languish in near-oblivion for another decade or so, or maybe folks'll see it and appreciate it.

I love this movie. The setting of it (19th century, in the California wilderness, although shot in Slovakia, it really does look COLD there, and that isolation works well), and the nice playing with the Wendigo legend, fusing it with maybe a bit of "Dracula" and notions of Manifest Destiny, and getting good performances out of a number of actors, to say nothing of the marvelous black humor that runs right through this movie -- it's really, really good, and I never get why more people haven't seen it or bothered to catch it. Director Antonia Bird doesn't necessarily shoot thrillingly (although she does convey good atmospheric shots here and there), and there are some continuity errors here and there in it, but overall, the movie doesn't just hold together; it's classic horror, with a bit of a twist here and there.

Guy Pearce plays Captain John Boyd, a reluctant (one might say cowardly -- a theme that runs throughout the movie) war hero who is sent to a distant fort in California, where he runs into the odd group of locals at Fort Spencer, in the Sierra Nevada ranges. There, they encounter Colqhoun (played wonderfully, with beady-eyed intensity, by Robert Carlyle), this stranger with a ghastly tale of cannibalism that is reminiscent of the Donner Party. And things go into freefall soon thereafter. I won't throw any spoilers into this, as the movie has some nice twists and turns. Pearce's Boyd is a fairly introverted, tortured character, and, as far as protagonists go, is fairly weak -- I imagine this turned off audience goers, who might've resonated with a stronger hero -- but Boyd does find his strength as the movie progresses, and understands what he must do to prevail over the Evil he faces. Boyd rises to the occasion (and, again, this might've bothered the audiences who saw it, who likely craved a happier ending).

The movie is well-shot and well-paced, and certain scenes will stay with you forever -- not even from outright bloodshed (certainly, blood is spilled in this movie, but never for its own sake) -- but it's the implications in the carnage here and there, the suggestion of what's going on, that carries the weight, and it makes this a superb, even smart horror movie. Not a slasher film, not an ironic, smarmy meta-horror, and not an exercise in pure terror (thinking of "The Strangers," here) -- "Ravenous" is, instead, a Grade-A horror film that takes you on a grim and haunting excursion. It's not a perfect movie, but it's far, far better than its dismal reception would leave you to believe). I've watched this movie a number of times, and it always manages to rope me in. Something about the setting, the time period, the good characterizations, the villainy of the Bad Guy -- all of it makes for an intoxicating and memorable horror film.

If you haven't seen it (and odds are you haven't, since, again, this movie was a total flop), you owe it to yourself to catch it. So much of what passes for horror these days is basically torture porn, or is an exercise in brutality -- "Ravenous" is, instead, a smart horror movie that has some nice, nasty reversals throughout it, and some curious implications woven within it.

Hero Factory

I have generally avoided themed Lego products -- I favor the more generic sets, but on a whim, I got one of the Hero Factory figures, and, in short order, got several of them. The good guys are all alternately Iron Man types -- like people in exo-suits, or else cyborgs. They all have amusingly prissy names like "Preston" and so on, versus their badass call names, like "Surge" and what-not.



Anyway, what sold me on these is how articulated they are -- the ball-and-socket joints make them truly fully poseable in a way I haven't seen since the old Micronauts toys of the 70s. And they're sturdily built, easy-to-assemble, and are modular, offering any number of iterations and permutations. The Heroes have a group of villains to take on, like Meltdown, the Corroder, etc. My boys love'em, and we get a lot of play out of them. Again, the highly articulated frames make them wonderful to move around and pose. Fun to assemble (and, by and large, easy to assemble, not too many pieces), and fun to play with, too. Pleasant surprise.