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John Allman

If you’ve ever wandered the aisles at the video store or surfed the DVR pay-per-view options and seen a bunch of movies that you’ve never heard of, chances are John has watched them. Why? He loves movies. All kinds of movies. Good, bad, so-bad-they’re good, even the truly unwatchable ones. He mostly loves horror and science-fiction and drive-in exploitation movies that most upstanding model citizens wouldn’t dare watch. Then he writes up his thoughts so you can decide - watch, don’t watch or avoid at all costs. Sometimes he even gets to talk to the cool folks who make some of your favorite films.

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John Allman

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New Releases for Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012

Posted Jan 17, 2012 by John Allman

Updated Jan 17, 2012 at 08:04 PM

What’s new in stores and on video shelves this week:

Cold Sweat
Genre: Thriller
Directed by: Adrián García Bogliano
Run time: 90 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Format: DVD

The Lowdown: We all know how most horror movies play out: A group of kids wander into a bad situation. They make reckless, often ridiculous decisions. They die, horribly, one by one, until there is usually a Final Girl left standing to battle it out with the big bad menace, whoever or whatever that might be.

Adrián García Bogliano has seen plenty of those movies too, and as a director, he set out to totally flip normal plot conventions on their ear with “Cold Sweat,” a Spanish import that honestly zigs when almost every other movie zags.

Bogliano offers up believable young adults who don’t make rash decisions, other than to survive. He concocts two completely unique villains in two elderly former freedom fighters who have managed to get ahold of a cache of long-lost dynamite.

One of the men is a scientist who has mastered the technique of distilling nitroglycerine into its liquid essence, a highly volatile creation that he gleefully applies to his victims drop by drop, forcing them to fight their own bodies and restrict all movement for fear of going Boom. The other man is the brute, the enforcer, the cleanup guy responsible for mopping up the mess whenever another young victim loses the fight and accidentally lets their head fall on the tiniest pin-sized dollop of the liquid boom-boom.

Inside their home, a non-descript two-story house, the scientist uses the Internet to lure victims to visit, positioning a young boy in front of a webcam so that females think they are talking to him. The boy has been severely mutilated, and is unable to fight back.

“Cold Sweat” starts with Roman and Ali trying to find Roman’s missing girlfriend, Jackie, who was having an online fling with who she believed to be a good-looking young man. Because they’re tech-savvy, Roman and Ali trace the IP address of the person Jackie was chatting with to the house. Ali strikes up a chat and gets invited to visit. Bad things happen quickly from there.

Bogliano is just 31, but he manipulates his audience like a seasoned professional, allowing the tension to ratchet up organically as some scenes play on indefinitely, his camera lens focused on each bead of sweat that drips down a victim’s body part drenched in liquid nitro. It’s incredible unnerving, and Bogliano keeps upping the ante until he reaches a highwater mark near the movie’s midpoint with a scene that would make Steven Spielberg proud. It’s a directing showcase worthy of a highlight reel, and it marks the arrival of a formidable talent.

He’s not content to stop there, however.

Bogliano injects a new, unexpected horror about every 15 minutes, keeping his characters and his audience off-balance. Whether it’s a taunt game of cat and mouse played out over an intercom, where any noise, even a deep breath, might give away Roman’s location, or a hidden subterranean basement filled with the ghoulish subjects who have been experimented on for years by the two elderly men, “Cold Sweat” creates just that – a palatable sense of creeping, delicious dread that, literally, explodes at the most unexpected of moments.

I don’t ever like to give away a film’s ending, and I’m not going to spoil the whirlwind conclusion, but I will say this – Bogliano saves his best trick for last, smashing through the tired cliché that all horror movie victims are just that, victims.

“Cold Sweat” is a fun, gory, gleefully over the top roller coaster ride that shouldn’t be missed.

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – Yes.
Nudity – Yes.
Gore – Considerable.
Drug use – No.
Bad Guys/Killers – Two elderly, demented ex-patriots who have converted a simple brownstone into a house of experimental horrors.
Buy/Rent – Buy it.

The Ides of March (Sony, 101 minutes, R, Blu-Ray): My personal favorite political allegory ever put to film is “Bob Roberts,” the wonderful Kennedy-esque satire that marked the writing/directing debut of Tim Robbins.

“The Ides of March” is right up there.

It’s better than “Bulworth” or “Primary Colors,” even if some of the twists are predictable, because the acting is spot-on, the writing is laser sharp and the direction by George Clooney is simply superb.

Everybody brings their A-game, from Ryan Gosling as the moral compass of the film, to Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti as rival campaign strategists, and even Marisa Tomei as a nosy New York Times reporter trying to get the latest scoop. Clooney is spectacular, playing in just a few scenes, as an Obama-like candidate who inspires his faithful. And Evan Rachel Wood is heartbreaking as the young intern who gets swept up into the political machine following a very human, but disastrous mistake.

Also Available:

The Coast Guard – What might look like a standard military action film on the surface, this Korean import actually takes the very-real tensions that exist along the North-South Korean border and explores what happens when the zeal to kill the enemy clouds one’s better judgment and sets in motion an awful domino effect.

Abduction – Remember when John Singleton was heralded as the next Spike Lee? Those hopes and expectations dissolved somewhere around “Shaft.” Remember when Taylor Lautner was supposed to be the next big action hero? No, actually.

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star – Produced and co-written by Adam Sandler, this vehicle for his comedy buddy Nick Swardson centers around the quest of young, dumb Bucky who decides he’s going to be a porn star to make his parents proud, despite the fact that he’s sporting next to nothing in the junk department.

Adam-12: Season 6 – The spin-off from “Dragnet” continues in its sixth season, portraying actual cases and crimes reported in Los Angeles.

Dirty Girl – Juno Temple, daughter of director Julian Temple, is a smoking hot, hold the movie all on her own star.

Dead Poets Society – Robin Williams, acting somberly.

Good Morning Vietnam – Robin Williams, yelling loudly.

Merlin: The Complete Third Season – The BBC takes an interesting spin on the legend of King Arthur and Merlin, setting its wizards and dragons serial back before either man was legendary, back when they were both foolish, headstrong young men.

Age of Heroes – Sean Bean kicking butt. It never gets old.

Romeos – Coming of age tale about a young pre-op transgender boy who falls for a young gay man, and the journey that they experience together.

Division III: Football’s Finest – Starring Andy Dick. As a football coach. ‘Nuff said.