Sundance ’13: S-VHS

Have you ever watched something so disturbing you wish you could un-see it?  Like maybe A Serbian Film or Barbra Streisand’s Guilt Trip?  That is sort of the premise behind the follow-up to last year’s horror anthology V/H/S.  While S-VHS is very definitely a film for horror diehards, it is not a similarly soul-shredding experience (trailer here).  In fact, it should be a heck of a fan-pleaser during its midnight screenings at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

The only place S-VHS repeats V/H/S is during Simon Barrett’s interstitial framing arc, Tape 47.  Once again, strangers have broken into a sketchy looking house, finding a mysterious assortment of VHS tapes.  This time around, a detective and his assistant Ayesha are looking for a missing college student, who evidently became obsessed with his collection of macabre found footage.  It seems he believed the cumulative effect of watching certain tapes consecutively would have a transformative effect on the viewer.  Naturally, Ayesha does exactly that, utilizing the monitors conveniently provided.

Adam Wingard’s Clinical Trials might be the most conventional of four tapes the intruders watch, but it still delivers plenty of creeps and jolts.  After an accident, a man has received a bionic optical implant to replace a lost eye.  The experimental treatment is free, but his initial experiences will be recorded for analysis.  (How such advanced technology was transferred to an obsolete VHS tape is not a question worth asking.)  With his artificially boosted vision, the man starts seeing things he never could before, like the dead people haunting his home.

In a bit of a departure, Edúardo Sanchez & Gregg Hale’s A Ride in the Park aims more for gross-outs than edge-of-the-seat scares, but it delivers accordingly.  Recorded through the protagonist’s bike helmet-cam, it could be described as the “zombie vomit” installment.  What more do you need to know?

Not surprisingly, the strongest constituent film comes from Gareth Huw Evans, who helmed the spectacular martial arts shoot-out The Raid.  Also set in Indonesia (a refreshing change of pace for the franchise), Safe Haven, co-directed with Timo Tjahjanto, consists of the footage shot by a documentary film crew visiting the compound of a reputed cult leader.  Initially, the well-spoken guru cooperates in the apparent hope of counteracting some of his bad PR.  However, their presence seems to ignite something evil.

Evans and Tjahjanto sure understand how to pace a film.  Steadily escalating the degree of wtf-ness, they throw in just about everything but the kitchen sink, culminating with one of the best composed closing shots you could ever hope to see in a genre film.  The ensemble cast is also first rate, from top to bottom.

While not quite as inspired as Haven, Jason Eisener’s Alien Abduction Slumber Party still ends S-VHS on a high note.  This is truly a descriptive title.  However, the dialogue and relationship dynamics are cleverly written, without sounding like an attempted Scream rip-off.  It is also a good example of how brief, blurry images seen out of the corner of one’s eye can be far more unsettling than front-and-center special effects shots.

Like its predecessor, S-VHS is pretty scary stuff, but by offering more humor and gleeful gore, it happens to be more fun.  A rare case of a sequel surpassing the original, S-VHS is enthusiastically recommended for midnight movie veterans (perhaps exclusively).  It screens again Tuesday (1/22) and Thursday (1/24) in Park City and Sunday (1/26) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

ND/NF ’12: The Raid—Redemption

Law enforcement is a noble calling. One rookie SWAT cop will be doing a heck of a lot of enforcing. Unfortunately, he is assigned to a decidedly dodgy mission in Gareth Huw Evans’ spectacularly awesome The Raid: Redemption (trailer here), which screens today as part of the 2012 New Directors/New Films in advance of its Friday opening in New York.

Tama the kingpin rules the Indonesia underworld from atop his high-rise fortress. He rents apartments and immunity from police harassment to any cutthroat willing to pay rent. However, Rama’s squad is supposed to change all that. They are to systematically secure the building and capture Tama. Of course, it turns out Tama has the drop on them. Since no reinforcements will be coming for their off-the-books operation, Rama and a handful of survivors will have to fight their way out in the same manner they came in—floor by machete-wielding floor. Or in other words: Hell, yes.

The Raid is the sort of film that could turn the prim and proper into martial arts fanboys. Evans maintains an absolute breakneck pace and stages some massive action sequences. Yet, the film is at its absolute best during its many scenes of extended close quarters combat, choreographed by its breakout lead Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, who co-stars as Tama’s self-explanatory henchman, Mad Dog.

Indeed, The Raid should catapult Uwais to the ranks of international superstardom. As Rama, he does something stilted indie films, didactic imports, and vapid reality shows have failed to do: provide a sympathetic Muslim protagonist with broad cross-cultural appeal. By the same token Ruhian’s Mad Dog is a most satisfyingly ferocious villain.

Many action film trailers just dice up some of their best scenes and spit them out at viewers machine gun style. In contrast, The Raid’s trailer is perfectly representative of the film’s hyper-charged energy (if anything, it is toned down a notch). Evans also shrewdly capitalizes on Tama’s seedy and imposing building, further boosting the tension through the claustrophobic setting. Frankly, the film is somewhat reminiscent of early John Woo, simultaneously gritty and operatic.

The Raid is the real deal. Packed with carnage, it is an old school martial arts shootout, with genuine art-house credibility. Highly recommended, it has been a major crowd pleaser at this year’s Sundance, when it was known simply as The Raid. In truth, the subtitle is unnecessary and somewhat ill-fitting, but who cares? Some also find it a bit odd such monster cinematic badness found a home with Sony Pictures Classics, but (as the trailer points out) the art-house distributor previously released Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle, as well as Wong Kar-wai’s Ashes of Time Redux, Zhang Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers and his criminally underappreciated Coen Brothers’ remake, A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop, so they certainly recognize something cool when they see it. Highly recommended, it screens at both MoMA and the Walter Reade Theater today (3/22) as part of ND/NF, before opening for real tomorrow at the UA Union Square in New York and the AMC Metreon in San Francisco.