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.

 Blood, Violence and Babes
 John Allman

Most Recent Entries

• New Releases for Tuesday, May 8, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, May 1, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, April 24, 2012
• A Conversation With: Ti West
• New Releases for Tuesday, April 17, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, April 10, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, April 3, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, March 27, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, March 20, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, March 13, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, March 6, 2012
• A Conversation With: Trish Stratus
• New Releases for Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012
• New Releases for Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012

More

• Walt TV
• BVB: Blood, Violence & Babes - B-Movie Lover's Holy Grail

Monthly Archives

• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011

New Releases for Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012

Posted Jan 29, 2012 by John Allman

Updated Jan 29, 2012 at 01:30 PM

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

The Woman
Genre: Horror/Sequel
Directed by: Lucky McKee
Run time: 101 minutes
Rating: R
Format: DVD

The Lowdown: If you haven’t seen it, there’s a video on YouTube from the 2011 Sundance Festival where an audience member walks out of a screening of Lucky McKee’s “The Woman” and just goes off on theater management.

The man, a registered IMDb actor, is appalled by what he’s just witnessed. And by appalled, I mean he is furious at the theater for even showing the film.

He rails against the film for degrading and denigrating women everywhere. He condemns the misogynistic central theme that propels the narrative.

He wants “The Woman” to be banned and copies of the film to be burned.

Is it a real video featuring a genuine reaction? I think so, yes.

Is his criticism warranted? No, he pretty much completely misses the mark. But that’s OK.

“The Woman” is a film open to interpretation. It’s not an easy film to watch at points. It challenges its viewers in ways that few movies, horror or otherwise, rarely do. It pulls out some heady twists at the end. But it’s not “I Spit on Your Grave” or some other exploitation torture porn featuring an orgiastic onslaught of male on female violence.

In fact, I would say that the same misogynistic overtures that cause Mr. Sundance to lose his marbles are, in reality, nothing but a red herring, a clever ruse.

“The Woman,” you see, doesn’t pander to violence against women for entertainment’s sake. It sets up a reveal that is unexpected, and satisfying, in ways that mob justice might sate a crowd’s thirst for blood.

McKee wants you to be appalled because only then will you be able to accept that anyone and everyone who commits, condones or causes to continue any violence against women is deserving of some very painful, likely permanent, lessons about right and wrong.

But getting to the moral of the story requires you to wade through some rough waters, and not everyone may be strong of stomach enough to make the trip.

“The Woman” is actually a sequel, or a companion film, to “Offspring,” a 2009 feature written by Jack Ketchum, which was one of After Dark Films’ 8 Films to Die For.

Pollyanna McIntosh played “The Woman” in both movies. Her character is a matriarch of sorts to a feral pack of people who live in the wild and live off the land. They’re also cannibals. That might be an important distinction to point out.

McKee structures his movie like some hellish version of “My Fair Lady” where a country attorney, Chris Cleek, who has a wife and three children of his own, finds The Woman one day while he is out hunting. He traps her and hauls her back to his secluded house where he chains her up in a barn and begins a nightmarish breakdown of her body and soul, abusing her physically and sexually, in an attempt to “humanize” her.

In a sick twist, the lawyer’s entire family, including matriarch Belle Cleek (Angela Bettis, a McKee regular) and her children, know about Daddy’s dark secret. His son even exhibits unnerving aptitude for the family hobby, as well as mimicking his father’s worst traits.

Mr. Cleek doesn’t think too highly of women, including his own wife and daughters. They basically exist to serve him and his son, and not speak back or share an opinion. And if they upset him, then it’s OK to put a little fear in their hearts by smacking them down.

McKee pays particular attention to Ms. Cleek’s reaction, and lack of action, when her husband abuses The Woman and her own daughters. The Woman is paying attention too, and in the film’s uber-violent, ultra-graphic third act, when all hell literally breaks loose, the carnage that’s meted out is both visceral and cathartic, not to mention unforgiving.

“The Woman” is a well-made independent horror film. It doesn’t shy away from controversial ideas and visuals, but I don’t think it exists simply to court controversy either.

This isn’t torture porn. This isn’t brutality for brutality’s sake. There is a message here, and McKee presents it in both subtle, detailed brush strokes and vibrant, unexpected splashes of blood red.

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – Yes, depending on what you consider hot.
Nudity – Yes.
Gore – Considerable.
Drug use – No.
Bad Guys/Killers – Not who you would expect.
Buy/Rent – Buy it.

50/50 (Summit. 100 minutes, R, DVD): Warning, warning. If you have lost a loved one to cancer, this might be the most difficult movie you will try to watch in a long time, if ever. It uncorks the tears on par with “Brian’s Song,” but unlike most tearjerkers, there are a plethora of riotous, insanely filthy zingers peppered throughout the laser-sharp script to keep you laughing hysterically amid the tears. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a wonderful job playing the newly diagnosed, and Seth Rogen makes you remember why you loved him so much in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.”

Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Lethal Ladies Collection 2: The Arena, Cover Girl Models, Fly Me (Shout! Factory, 235 minutes, Unrated, DVD): There’s no instant classic here like with “Too Hot to Handle” from the first Lethal Ladies collection, but the bonafide grindhouse gem here is “Fly Me,” an absurd slice of kung fu cinema that pits flight attendants against gang thugs. The movie kicks off with gratuitous nudity AND Dick Miller, and only gets more ridiculous from there. The fight scenes break out with little warning and make even less sense, but they are fun. And the grainy, over-saturated print complete with cigarette burns, choppy editing and occasionally uneven audio track make you feel like you’ve ducked into a rundown theater back in 1973.

Also Available:

Real Steel - The comparisons to “Rocky” in all the advertising materials aren’t misleading, but they don’t tell the whole story. This live-action Rock-Em-Sock-Em-Robots would have been just fine without the schmaltzy, over-indulgent bad Dad storyline that saddles likeable Hugh Jackman with a really tough role to sell and detracts from the giddy fanboy fun of watching giant robots beat the crap out of each other.

Punished - A brutal revenge thriller about a bodyguard ordered to execute the people involved in kidnapping his boss’s daughter. Oh, and he has to videotape each of the killings. Gruesome goodness ensues.

Ancient Aliens: Season Three – I love this show. It’s fascinating, rooted in science and history, and it gives credence to all of us who firmly believe we’re not waiting for first contact – It already happened a long time ago.

WWII in 3D – Archival war footage, converted to high def and 3D. I’m still holding out for the Korean Conflict Special Edition in Mono with grainy stock footage.

Tales of an Ancient Empire – Kevin Sorbo, people. ‘Nuff said. Make the popcorn and take a seat.

Mannix: The Sixth Season – Everytime I type “Mannix,” I think “Manimal.” Now that’s a show I’d like to see again on DVD.

Meet the Browns: Season Four – More stereotypical situation comedy from Tyler Perry, the unfunniest rich guy ever.

The Whistleblower – Oscar winner Rachel Weisz battles human traffickers in a gritty thriller about a topic most people don’t like to acknowledge exists.

Limelight – Fascinating documentary about one of the wildest nightclubs in New York City before Mayor Rudy forced them to shutter and close.

Restless – Gus Van Sant, working on a smaller scale than his usual films, but with no less impact.

Not To Be Overlooked:

Fire of Conscience (Indomina, 106 minutes, R, DVD): It takes a little while for the realization to sink in, but “Fire of Conscience,” an incredibly taunt Japanese crime thriller, mines the best elements of “Heat” and “The Departed” to concoct a film that seems very familiar yet wholly unique at the same time. I really enjoyed the story, especially the final act. This is one to look for on Netflix. 

Devil’s Playground (Indomina, 93 minutes, Unrated, DVD): This British zombie flick gets high marks for basically repackaging “Resident Evil” and “28 Days Later” with a not-so-original, but still enjoyable, story of one soldier’s attempt to rescue a woman whose blood could help develop a cure. Die-hard zombie fans may be divided about director Mark McQueen’s decision to not only allow his undead hordes to move swiftly, but to have them all suddenly skilled in the art of Parkour, the French method of maximizing spatial awareness to give one’s body the opportunity to slip, slide and glide over, around or through incredibly tight openings.  Personally, it didn’t detract from the overall story, simply because everyone infected with the disease suddenly seemed capable of flipping, leaping and flying over any obstacle between them and fresh meat. It kind of made the zombies more intimidating, even if they still got bludgeoned fairly easily by the good guys.

True Legend (Indomina, 116 minutes, R, DVD): “True Legend,” the epic story of Su Qi-Er, is told through massive kung-fu battles, set against lavish backdrops from exotic temples to mountain fortress retreats. Fans know that these type of stories follow a predictable pattern of introducing the hero, tracking his success, his fall from grace, his rebirth and his eventual victory against all odds, and “True Legend” does not disappoint, providing an interesting redemptive story arc along with some astounding fight choreography from the guys who worked on “The Matrix” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”  This one is pretty great.