Hell lowing

I wasn’t going to pester you non-horror fans–and the big wuss Arnab–with another in my annual accounts of scary shit I done seen. But I found one that someone other than me might actually enjoy, so. . . .

First, and far less likely to appeal, is Atrocious. I don’t get the title. This is another in the found-videotape-footage genre, starring two aggravating self-absorbed protagonists (check) and unexplained noises at night (check) and their attempts to capture same on film (check), including night vision (check), including scenes where they run around using night vision (check), which is ridiculous. The whole premise here is thin when not ridiculous. Some scary legend–Count Floyd “scaaaarrry”–about a lost girl in the woods who’ll drag you away. Two upperclass teenagers from Madrid, bored on vacation. A forested labyrinth. But damn if these films don’t often get under your skin; the slow build-up is reasonably effective, and then even when they start the bullshit running around with the camera, I was caught up. It has a nice conclusion, too, when most of these films fail to stick the end. Beware: dog death (off-screen).

Second, and somewhat likely to appeal, Australian Acolytes starts in Larry Clark-land, with a trio of disaffected, marginalized, sexually-tense teens wandering around some suburban landscape. The two boys have some minor competition going over their gal pal, and all three are terrified by a bully who’s just gotten out of prison, the reason for which whispers at the corner of conversations, not clear to us for some time. Then they happen upon a man (the creepily-moustached Joel Edgerton) burying a body in the woods. And the boys get a bright idea: let’s blackmail this serial killer into offing the bully. The film has a strong, discomforting edge, and it manages some plot shifts that were quite strong–and it also has a rock-star utility infielder in Edgerton, who is intense and repressed and quite strong in a few scenes… until the last 10, 15 minutes, when the film got a bit too neat, a boringly-familiar return after its more disruptive tone and plotting before. Still… Jeff, at least, might find it interesting.

The keeper is the Argentine Phase 7, which tips its cap to Shaun of the Dead and Rec, without zombies: a young couple, harmlessly clueless, return from a shopping trip just as the threat of worldwide pandemic (and it looks like 100% fatality) puts their building into quarantine. The residents hole up in their respective apartments, while the world outside seems to fall apart, and much of the film’s pleasure comes from that tension between Coco and Pipi playing Battleship while occasional news reports and the bark of guns outside suggest apocalypse. But tensions inside do erupt, too, and the film slips into a more active comic energy as hapless Coco joins up with his paranoid neighbor in the struggle to survive. I don’t want to oversell–its amusements are small, and familiar, but the film is shot with some glorious hues and director Nicolas Goldbart’s effective sense of pacing, of how to build a scene; the actors, including a fine Federico Luppi, avoid hyperbole — it’s got wit, charm, and some tension. Not really horror… more riffing on horrific scenarios.

Oh, also: The Reef was horrible. It was essentially a remake of Open Water, which wasn’t that great to begin with–people adrift in Australian waters, while a big shark circles. There were about 1800 shots of the “expert” sailor/diver sticking his head into the water to look around and see if the shark was visible. This did not build tension. The movie is about 16 hours long. Unfortunately, not everyone dies.