TRAILER: Daybreakers

It's funny the trailers that suddenly pop up on the net, and spread like swine flu. Daybreakers is one of those film's we heard quite a lot about when it first went into production some two years ago and then nothing. It seemed Daybreakers would never see the light of day. After creating a minor, yet promising rumble in the horror world with Undead in 2003, good things were expected from Queensland directing brothers Michael and Peter Spierig. With US backing and a cast that puts most high profile horrors to same (Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neil) Daybreakers was hotly anticipated. But the cracks started to show when Ethan Hawke (reportedly) appeared on a talk show belittling the film. A source tells me the cut originally delivered by the Spierigs was rejected and a large portion of the film re shot, further explaining the delay. But that's water under the bridge now that we have finally gotten a look at the film. I was surprised to say the least, not that I was expecting a train wreck, I just wasn't excepting such grand scope. As far as a trailers go it looks great and reminds me of the New Zealand vampire flick 'Perfect Creature' by way of 'Dark City'. The use of Placebo's cover of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' is terrific and conveys a sense of style and seriousness about an obviously high concept story. Let's hope the real thing holds up to this juicy little taste when it opens in Australian cinemas January 21, 2010.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)

Dir: Jonathan Levine.

Cast: Amber Heard, Michael Welch.

Review: All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a movie with a checkered past. As legend has it, Mandy Lane was picked up by the Weinsteins and thrown on a shelf to rot. Theories abound as to why, but the presumption was that a shotgun wielding teen killer was a little too Columbine for the Weinsteins to market, schedule and release. Aside from some festival screenings Mandy Lane has never seen the light of day in the US. Thankfully here in Australia, and in the UK, Mandy suddenly arrived out of nowhere on DVD to little fanfare. Shame, Shame. This film is a rare antidote to almost every teen horror, by essentially not being a horror film at all. Maybe its an overstatement to call Mandy a drama, but she's definitely a thriller and a genuine critique of the modern teen, prone to ugliness and violence wrapped in smooth skin, blonde hair and a tan. Often these teen horrors, of which there are SO many, purport to be 'saying something' about the teen culture exhibited but actually don't and instead use the hot bods to lure in a teen audience negating the chance to make them look at themselves and possibly even consider, hey maybe I deserve to be hatched up by a slasher. Again, this is what may have made the Weinsteins cautious of Mandy, teen retribution at the end of a shotgun - it is a terrifyingly REAL scenario. And here in lays a contradiction about Mandy Lane you can see the ending coming a mile off, however, instead of being disappointed, you so hope you are right. Amber Heard as Mandy does a good job with a difficult role, Mandy is not a cut and dry kinda gal. The supporting players also keep it real, no over acting in the stoner scenes. You get a sense that these actors know what it's like, no 'Whoa man' moments. It's to the credit of director Jonathan Levine for keeping it real, he's not a horror director, going on to make The Wackness (2008) and it shows, all for the good of his film. One last positive is the film's use of music. No metal here, 60's teen idols instead, more evidence that Levine is blissfully unaware of teen horror trappings.

Rating: 4/5.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007)

Dir: Jon Knautz.

Cast: Trevor Matthews, Robert Englund

Review: Its taken awhile to get around to this one, led by positive reaction on pretty much every horror site during Jack Brooks' festival curcuit run. For the most part the positive reactions were valid. The film has a lot that many zero budjet horror offerings don't. Most impressive, and most important of all in my opinion, is that the film looks good. It's well shot, not too much hand-held, dynamic framing and good light/dark contrast in the many night time scenes. The acting, dodgy at best even in studio horror fare, is pretty good here, the stand out being of course Trevor Matthews as the titular Jack Brooks. That's saying a lot considering Matthews in a stuntman by trade and though he is put through his paces on the physical front, there are a number of scenes where Matthews illicites genuine empathy for Jack. While its always nice to see horror veterans like Englund working, he hams it up alittle too much, and its esspecially noticable in scenes with the 'playing-it-straight' Matthews. Actually, there's a very curious scene that involves the two actors that is played so dead pan, I'm still not sure If I was reading it right. It involves a lot of talk of Jack coming around to 'unblock' the professor's (Englund) pipes. I read homoerotic, but you be the judge. The all important FX of Jack Brooks are also handled very well, when not in tight close-up. It is here the film's inspirations are laid bare, Evil Dead II and Peter Jackson's Brain Dead, to an almost blinding degree, but director Knautz can be forgiven for this indulgence as he has his fun with such glowing reverance. However, all the above doesn't not a cult classic make. Jack Brooks is a one note, one idea story stretched out to nearly 90 minutes. It should be half that. We really only get to the good stuff in the last half an hour. It really feels like many scenes are just padding, esspecially those with Jack's anger managment councillor and all the classroom scenes with Englund. This excess of scenes over states minor story and character developments making everything more predictable and in turn the viewer more impatiant to there foregone conclusion.

While it really should have been a short film (though I know they would have never got the funding for it) the filmmakers behind Jack Brooks should still be proud, as the elements that do work, work well.

Rating: 3/5.