Before the big zombie comeback that started in 2004 and before he was relevant again and turned out another (inferior) zombie trilogy, George A.Romero directed a smaller somewhat bizarre revenge film which has not yet seen a UK release and went straight to DVD in the US. At the time Bruiser was Romero’s first movie since 1993’s The Dark Half. Although it has pacing problems and the screenplay (also written by Romero) is not as clever as it thinks it is, Bruiser is well worth your time.
The film opens with meek magazine executive Henry Creedlow (Jason Flemyng) going about a life where he is taken advantage of at every conceivable turn. Either by his model girlfriend, his seedy boss or his best friend. He fantasizes getting his own back on these people with violent day dreams but never has the courage to act on the impulses he feels. One day after a particularly humiliating event with his boss and his girlfriend the night before, he awakens with a blank mask for a face. Initially in shock and disbelief he discovers the mask is actually his face now and cannot be removed. He finds that his loss of identity enables him to take action against the people who have walked all over him. So Henry begins a bloodthirsty campaign of vengeance, first against the housekeeper who has been stealing from him, then his girlfriend and finally his boss where he begins to empathize with the bosses downtrodden wife and seeks to help her out of her situation.
The synopsis is simple and truth be told it lacks some meat on its bones. This is also a strength as there are no complex subplots to contend with and there is some pleasure to be had watching poor Henry get his own back. This being a Romero film, its not as bloody or disturbing as you would think it should be. The death scenes are all fairly run of the mill without ever going to full pelt grindhouse levels of gore. The mask that becomes Henry’s face is suitably creepy and Jason Flemyng does a great job of becoming a sociopathic monster after getting our sympathies at the start of the film. Sadly the performances around him don’t seem to match his efforts. Peter Stormare as Henry’s boss and the bad guy of the film constantly mumbles or goes over the top playing an out an out scumbag. It’s a performance that almost matches his ill judged turn in The Brothers Grimm for how bad it is, A little of the restraint and quiet menace he showed in Fargo would have gone a long way here. Leslie Hope as his wife sadly fares little better with an underwritten role which calls for little more than the wooden performance she gives here. Towards the end of the film we are given a clue that there was some unspoken chemistry and feeling between her and Henry, sadly due to the underdeveloped role and poor performance you never share the feeling that this was Henry’s one chance at some kind of redemption. Luckily among the supporting cast is the great dependable Tom Atkins who here gives his usual grizzled cop performance par excellence.
Now you may get the feeling that I am ragging on this film and therefore I didn’t like it. This isn’t the case, there is much to enjoy here. The initially bizarre premise for example is quite unique, if a little similar to The King of the Ants and American Psycho, films released around the same time. The first act is quite slow and well done, we spend a lot of time with Henry in his day to day humiliations so we get to know him and live in his shoes. When the second act begins and the bodies start piling up you never feel sympathy for these despicable characters meeting their demise. The final act freak out which takes place at some kind of party with a macabre cabaret act is also quite good. There are a lot of elements in play here with most of the party guests dressed up in freakish costumes and Romero does a good job of mining suspense from this as you are never quite sure where Henry is or how he will strike.
Like most of Romero’s films, this has some kind of social conscience and as far as I can tell he is trying to say something about loss of identity in the the modern corporation dominated world. It’s a worthy subject and the message could have been delivered better by a superior standard of writer on top of his game. For the moment though for better millennial angst related films see Fight Club or American Beauty. Having said that Bruiser is a better movie than Diary or Survival of the Dead, both of which received a theatrical release which Bruiser was denied.
by Chris Holt
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Mexico City: A man shambles through a shopping mall. His hair and beard are dirty and he looks sweaty, his teeth are yellow and decaying. He walks up to a shop window to gawk at some mannequins and is told to move on by an uptight shopkeeper. A few feet onwards he clutches his stomach, falls to the ground and spews up thick, black bile. He dies alone and ignored, a few moments later the body is dragged away and cleaners mop up the bile. So begins the Mexican horror/ social drama; We are what we are.
We then meet the members of the mans family, oldest son Julian is a hot headed and violent young man, his younger sibling Alfredo is confused and unsure but the family member that is looked to as a leader. Their younger sister Sabina is caring and kind and has a great deal of affection for her brothers. Their matriarch will stop at nothing to protect the family she loves and goes to great degrading lengths to keep them alive. Through an autopsy scene where a finger is discovered in the dead mans stomach we learn the family are actually cannibals and they seem to have been at it for a long time. It is also hinted that the father had a great appetite for hookers and it was this that lead to his downfall and why they are seen as potential targets for the two brothers. The brothers go out hunting into the night trying to pick up strays that they can literally take home for dinner, trying to keep to some mysterious deadline which will violate their usual rituals should they not feed in time. Meanwhile a couple of inept and corrupt cops close in on the family after finding a finger in the dead father’s stomach at the autopsy.
Writer-director Jorge Michel Grau’s film is a grimy dirty kitchen sink drama which just happens to be about cannibals. Its less about the act of eating a human being than it is about going to absurd lengths to survive in one of the poorest places on Earth. There is very little violence or gore, most of the more shocking moments happen off camera or are played out in the shadows so gorehounds may come away a little deflated. The good news is the film looks great, Grau shoots the downtrodden locale and the families apartment with a great use of darkness. Shadows take up a lot of the room, pouring out of every corner adding claustrophobia to the feeling of urban decay. Despite being potentially a very depressing subject there is also quite a bit of dark comedy in the film. A lot of the two brothers attempts to kidnap someone as their next meal are hilarious, especially a scene in which they are bested by a bunch of kids off the street. Also the scene where the mother gives a speech about how the brothers used to pretend to be a taco and leave their sister out of their childhood playtime is giggle inducing. I’m not sure if it was intentional or supposed to be touching. Probably a further example of trying to convince us of these kids grew up with no imagination or hope due to their oppressive lives.
The performances are all top notch, Miriam Balderos as the mother is perfect, a role that is maybe the most sympathetic out of all of them. Displaying lots of heartbreak because of her husband and how he left her and becoming frantic and desperate towards the climax. Above all of them though is Francisco Barreiro as Alfredo, a deeply confused and troubled young man. All through the film you see the tension in him threatening to boil over and in the last twenty minutes the character changes so much revealing that he is perhaps the most damaged out of the whole family.
It seems like Grau may well eventually join the likes of Guillermo Del Toro and Alex De La Iglesia as one of the best Spanish genre filmmakers out there. This is a film with a lot on its mind, not just creeping you out buy making you think about social structures and how society deals with the underclass's who seem to just get poorer.Along with Dogtooth it is one of the best socially conscious horror dramas out there. We Are What We Are is a great debut from a promising new director and well worth checking out.
by Chris Holt
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The Truth is Out There: March 2011
Golden age of sci-fi?
One of my favorite internet movie bloggers; C.Robert Cargill aka Massawyrm from Aint it Cool news, stated in his positive review of Battle: Los Angeles that we were currently living in a golden age of science fiction cinema. What? Did I miss this or something? Since reading that I have been struggling to think of what could be an example of this supposed golden age we are currently enjoying and specifically when did it start? I’m thinking probably around 2006 with Children of Men and The Fountain. Two brilliant pieces of cinema and the finest pieces of science fiction entertainment that had been released in many a moon at that time. Since then we have had the likes of Sunshine, Watchmen, Transformers, Cloverfield, Wall-E, Knowing, Star Trek, District 9, Avatar, Moon, The Box, Splice, Inception, Monsters and Tron Legacy. In March so far we have also had The Adjustment Bureau, Limitless and Source Code, all of which make you think and are filled with ideas despite varying in quality. Now that I have typed that out and looked at it I find myself agreeing with Mr Cargill. We can complain and bitch all we like about the fact that Universal have shelved plans for At The Mountains of Madness and R-Patz is a possible lead in a live action Akira but the fact is we have never had it so good. Films like Sunshine and District 9 were produced with very little fanfare or information leaked online about them and as a result when they came out kicked our collective arses. So yeah its a shame that Del Toro’s long cherished adaptation of Lovecraft’s work isn’t going to happen but the fact that it almost did happen is something to be glad about. Also Del Toro’s next project is Pacific Rim, which apparently involves giant mecha battle suits fighting giant monsters!! So how cool does that sound?!?
Blade Runner sequels
Speaking of Golden Ages and science fiction, this month it was announced that Alcon entertainment had secured the rights to sequels and TV projects based on Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece. This was followed by the sound of several thousand plastic retainers being shattered as geeks clenched their teeth in anger. I think this was always going to happen it was just a matter of when and to be honest I’m not completely against the idea. No film is ever going to measure up against the original that much is certain and despite this a sequel or prequel isn't going to suddenly erase the original from existence. It will always be there for you to enjoy on whatever home entertainment format happens to be in vogue at the time. If they are going to sequelize it they should at least bring on Scott in an advisory capacity the way they did with Steven Lisberger for Tron Legacy. That way at least the geek army will be sated and we can be assured of some measure of quality. If sir Ridley has returned to the Alien franchise with Prometheus they there isn’t any reason to think he would not do the same for Blade Runner.
The X-Files
I made the mistake of watching the second X Files big screen feature; I want to believe, again this month, I still have a bitter taste in my mouth. I was really hoping that this franchise would kick ass on the big screen but so far we have had one very good movie and one limp above average feature length episode of the tv show in cinemas. The X-Files has masses of potential as a property but the problem seems to be Chris Carter’s lack of imagination. Therefore I am going to suggest something that may seem controversial; Reboot it. Yeah get rid of Carter, Duchovny and Anderson and bring on a new team and launch a new tv series on fox to build brand awareness. Get someone who is a huge fan like Edgar Wright as an exec producer and show runner and let it run wild. Fringe’s popularity has proven that there is still an appetite out there for unsolved believe it or not type scenario’s and The X-Files franchise gathers dust on a shelf when it could be out there working as the brand recognition name it is.
Robert Rodriguez Career
Remember when Robert Rodriguez was the great latino hope of action cinema? Me neither, but this was the case around 1995. He had El Mariachi under his belt, sequel Desperado about to come out and From Dusk Till Dawn in production. It was so sweet and we all marveled at how cool he made Antonio Banderas and George Clooney look. Then he made the entertaining The Faculty and a series of kids films and then Sin City which he only co-directed. Somewhere in between came a confusing third part in his mariachi trilogy. Lately he has been producing little seen 3D kids movies and Grindhouse knock offs. Oh and he produced Predators. For every cheap kids movie he directs he gets attached to five or so interesting sounding projects that never happen like Sin City 2, Nervewrackers or Zorro. The reason for me looking at the waste that is Rodriguez career is that I watched Machete on blu-ray and was a bit disappointed. It doesn't go far enough in the over the top seedy grindhouse style to be a homage and isn’t serious enough to be considered a socially conscious piece of entertainment that it wants to be, its a classic case of neither fish nor fowl. Rodriguez is capable of great things, I can point to the whole of From Dusk Till Dawn and a collection of scenes from his other movies, but he really needs to get out from behind his troublemaker studios and get back behind a camera and not in front of a green screen.
by Chris Holt
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Tags: Ramblings, The Truth Is Out There
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