Humanoids from the Deep (1980)

From The Caverns Of The Deep... It Strikes!

A small fishing community is split over the development of a cannery which opponents say will lead to the decimation of fish stocks and environmental degradation. Local First Nations are preparing a struggle against the cannery through the courts. Meanwhile, a militant and bigoted pro-cannery gang plan to make sure that the development goes ahead as planned regardless of the cost or the opposition.

What nobody knows is that the company behind the cannery has been engaging in dangerous experiments with genetic modification under an apparently feeble set of safety guidelines. As a result, a new species of amphibious humanoids has developed and rapidly evolved into a dangerous force. Now they are bent on destroying their human neighbours in order to claim the surrounding territory for themselves. Worse yet, they seek to impregnate human females in an alleged effort to speed up their evolutionary process.

Johnny Eagle (Anthony Penya), Dr. Susan Drake (Ann Turkel), Jim Hill (Doug McClure), and Tommy Hill (Breck Constin), to save the village from the mutants, and show the human villains the error of their ways.

Humanoids from the Deep (aka Monster) is actually a decently made and entertaining sci-fi horror film. The monsters are really cool looking and a lot of the make up is well done as well. The acting is reasonable and no, Tommy is not played by Mark Hamill even if it looks and sounds like he is.

Politically this one is interesting. The film obviously comments upon issues surrounding the over-exploitation of natural resources, environmental degradation, racism, Aboriginal rights, and sexism.

That last point might be the one point of contention on account of the unnecessary monster rape scenes which were obviously added for sensationalism alone since they are not necessary to the plot, and the notion that the monsters are consciously breeding with humans in order to further their evolutionary development is both a little unbelievable and probably very scientifically unsound. Meanwhile the film satirizes sexist treatment of women throughout making a mockery of backwards notions. Of course the final scene may very much have been an end in itself for the monster sex attack scenes. Without spoiling it, the final scene was more or less redone just a few years later in a much more famous film and with an even more terrifying effect.

The film was remade as a toned down TV movie in 1996.

4 humanoids out of 5
Contains violence, nudity, sexuality, language.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

censorship, uncensored.

Director Kirby Dick explores the mysterious world of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), a secretive organization tasked with rating films in the United States. This Film Is Not Yet Rated takes a look at the history of the MPAA as a self censoring body established by the US film industry, which is predominately controlled by a small handful of massive corporations.

What is the MPAA? Where did it come from? How does it act as a tool for controlling and manipulating American culture and the information that citizens take in? For that matter, who are they?

Watch the film to find out, but for starters they are unelected, appointed by a conservative republican, and include two representative of religious denominations.

Decide for yourself, but it appears clear that the MPAA is an anti-democratic organization bent on imposing their reactionary views on society as a whole. The organization should be disbanded entirely and replaced with either a transparent and elected body, or nothing at all. At any rate, this is an eye opening film which is well worth a watch.

4 bigoted censors out of 5
Contains some nudity, sexuality, language.

American Psycho (2000)

Killer looks.

Patrick Bateman is a young, wealthy investment banking executive working at his fathers firm on Wall Street. But Bateman's role as a Wall Street banker is not the most evil quality about him. That would be the fact that he is a serial killer whose lust for blood is rapidly spiralling out of control. Behind his self absorbed air of bourgeois respectability is a twisted mind and a growing body count which includes homeless people, co-workers, sex trade workers, and others.

Hot on his heals is Detective Donald Kimball, a PI who has been hired to investigate the disappearance of one of Bateman's victims. But Bateman's own mask of sanity is quickly evaporating. He is being overtaken increasingly by intense and violent misanthropic hatred of human kind, and time is running out for anyone who may find themselves in his path.

American Psycho is based on the novel by the same name written in 1991 by Bret Easton Ellis. The books graphic depiction of violence against women attracted the protest of women's organizations and generated substantial protest

Thought I am not in a position to comment on the book as I have not read it, the films main character, Bateman, is undoubtedly a misogynist character. While his hatred is seemingly aimed at all of humanity, his violence is targeted primarily at women, and secondarily at males who he sees as being competition to his masculinity. Additionally, he is an elitist who clearly feels that he is special and entitled, while others around him are lesser, incompetent, even disgusting.

But while the films overall tone is cynical and even tongue in cheek, the murders themselves are certainly not glorified or beautified and Bateman is not depicted as a hero, but rather as the depraved lunatic that he clearly is. He and his vapid work associates muse about their detest for women who they consider to be mere sex objects, a belief that Bateman lives out in having sex with, and then murdering, several women. But what message is the film trying to purvey on these topics? It's never made clear.

Bateman's life is a monotonous and dull one driven by base materialism, greed, and self gratification at the expense of others. In an age when protesters in the thousands are occupying parks, streets, buildings, and squares to protest that very greed and materialism on the part of the 1% as personified by Bateman, one can find a social commentary of another type in the film as well; one about greed and its ability to drive people to unspeakable acts in pursuit of their personal fulfilment. Wall Street executives might not be running around chopping up innocent victims in their apartments, but the human cost of their actions is realistically much higher even than that of Bateman's evil deeds. But I digress.

Is American Psycho scary? Not especially? Suspenseful? At times. Disturbing? Controversial? Sure. One thing is for sure, American Psycho has established itself as a cult film and won't be disappearing in to obscurity any time soon. It was also followed by a sequel, American Psycho 2, although those involved in the first film have distanced themselves from it and have rejected its legitimacy as a sequel.

2.5 chainsaws out of 5
Contains violence/gore, language, nudity/sexuality.

High Tension (2003)

Hearts will bleed.

Warning: This review contains a spoiler.

A young woman named Alexia travels with her friend Marie to her families secluded country home for study break. But what should be a relaxing and productive time away soon becomes a visceral tale of horror when a blood thirsty psychopath invades the family home and lays waste to Alexia's family. Alexia is then kidnapped and carried away in the killers truck. But Marie manages to evade the murderer and sets out on a mission to rescue her friend.

High Tension is very much as the title suggests; tense and suspenseful. In this regard the film is a big success and a good watch. Its violence is brutal, realistic, unrelenting, and uncompromising. It is a horror film without camp, fun, or comic relief. But at the same time its focus is on the story; the violence is a vehicle for the story rather than being the story in itself as with many modern "torture porn" films. High Tension is a success as a horrifying and suspenseful film.

But the film has an alternate title; Switchblade Romance. This alternate title hints at another aspect of the film, its surprise ending.

As we learn in the final moments of the film, Marie is the killer all along. It comes a surprise at the time, but in retrospect all the signs were there to set the viewer up for an old fashioned tale of love gone wrong. Marie is shown acting flirtatiously with Alexia, spying on her in the shower, masturbating after doing so, and hiding in a closet while the murder does his evil deeds.

Apparently driven to murderous madness by her repressed homosexual feelings, Marie embarked on a cruel rampage aimed at having her friend to herself, even if it meant killing her. In her self-loathing she had envisioned herself as a dirty, ugly misogynist, and created a character in that image through whom her crimes would be committed. Only when she finally was prepared to come out to Alexia did she finally kill this alter ego, only to be driven back into murderous rage by the rejection of her heterosexual friend. And now, with a completely unnecessary plot twist, a well executed horror film which could have ended in positive messaging about sexuality instead leaves the viewer with the rotten taste of homophobia in their mouth. It is for this, even more so than its violence or terror, that it has faced criticism.

High Tension has the makings of an excellent horror film, but should not be viewed by the weak of heart, the weak of stomach, or the weak of mind.

3 smashed heads out of 5
Contains violence/gore, frightening scenes, language, nudity, sexuality.