TIFF Review: The Burrowers

JT Petty’s The Burrowers really should be a bit better than it actually is. The idea of combining the western and horror genres is quite intriguing and Petty has a good basis for a strong movie but unfortunately he falls a bit short with its implementation. Many times throughout the week I have heard over and over how The Burrowers takes The Searchers and combines it with Tremors. While this comparison is true at the most basis level it really does not live up to such comparisons.

When making a comparison with The Searchers one can not help but think of John Wayne’s bigoted cowboy. In The Burrowers instead of having the main hero be an anti hero we meet a violent racist captain in the army. In many ways this takes an interesting concept and waters it down to the point of being forgettable. What JT Petty should have done was to have at least one of the three main cowboys, Coffey (Karl Geary), Parcher (William Mapother) or the rancher (Clancy Brown) take on a similar role to that of John Wayne in The Searchers.

The other comparison has been with the movie Tremors. This comparison can really only be made because the monsters of both movies travel under the ground. When you make this comparison you are not giving enough credit to Tremors good sense of humour as the humour is sorely lacking here. The Burrowers is not meant to be a light fun horror movie. It is quite dark and I do not see this necessarily as a negative but when the comparison is made then the expectation will be there.

While it may sound like I am being fairly harsh on this movie it is only because of the comparisons which have been constantly made. The Burrowers has some very good points that should allow me to recommend it. It is a beautifully shot movie and does not fall into the trap that some westerns do when they linger just too long on the horizon and scenery shots. The acting is top notch from everyone involved. The premise of the movie is very interesting and finally the special effects are top notch as it relies on a combination of both practical and CGI effects.

Overall though there is nothing too memorable about Petty’s The Burrowers but on the other hand you could do a lot worse. With a few changes to the characters and a little bit more delving into the racial tension The Burrowers would have been an excellent movie. As it is though I would really only recommend this one to die hard fans who would like to see a mixing up of the western and horror genres.

TIFF Review: Deadgirl

I am completely torn on Deadgirl. This is one movie that plays very well with a Midnight Madness crowd but at any other time it will not. While watching it I couldn’t help but be reminded of last year’s movie Blood Car, which I saw at Toronto After Dark. Both movies push buttons and have a good sense of humour. I have since watched Blood Car a few times and I get a kick out of it each time. I just can’t see that happening with Deadgirl. It relies too much on jump scares when it wants to be scary while Blood Car really makes no attempt to truly scare you.

In Deadgirl, two high school friends JT and Rickie discover the body of a chained naked woman in the basement of an old asylum. In stead of releasing the nearly comatose woman JT decides that they should “keep her” and use her as a sex slave. Rickie doesn’t want anything to do with this and leaves. The next day JT grabs his friend tells him that he has to see something. After some coaxing Rickie goes along and JT tells him how he had to beat her when she tried to bite him. A fight between the two friends ensues and JT ends up shooting the woman. The audience and Rickie discover that the woman can’t be killed.

The rest of the movie is all about the secret getting out as more and more people are brought down to the basement and also on Rickie’s crush on his childhood sweet heart who of course is in dating the obnoxious jock. The humour is pretty dark and was fun but I spent the rest of the movie not enjoying the story. The Midnight Madness audience definitely enjoyed themselves but there is nothing in Deadgirl that makes me want to revisit it and without the large festival crowd it will not play well.

TIFF Review: JCVD

While I was sitting in the theatre today waiting for my next movie to start I was listening to to the people behind me talk about JCVD and Jean Claude Van Damme’s previous movies. Later, after that movie I was browsing the web and I came across a review of JCVD that neatly matched up with the discussion that the audience members were having. The discussion focussed not on JCVD but on what is expected in a Van Damme movie. No one watches his movies for acting the simply watch him for spin kicks. We’ll I have to say that I went into JCVD with the exact opposite intention. I wanted a movie that didn’t rely on his just his kicking skills but instead I wanted a movie that had a point to it while being fun and entertaining and I wanted a chance to see Van Damme actually act.

JCVD opens with an amazing minute or two single shot fight scene which rivals any long take from any action movie. The only thing though is that you know going in that this isn’t going to be your typical Van Damme generic action movie. This is a movie that will poke fun at the whole nature of celebrity, Hollywood and just who Jean Claude actually is. In JCVD everyone refers to Van Damme as Jean Claude so I am going to do likewise. Jean Claude takes aspects of his actual personal life and intertwines it with the story of a bank robbery where everyone naturally assumes that he is the culprit. Jean Claude is having money troubles because of his wanting to complete a real movie and a custody battle over his daughter. He returns to Belgium after a humorous yet extremely heart felt trial where the main case against him is that he kills people in bad movies. Upon his return his money troubles cause him to stop in a bank to receive a wire transfer where he stumbles into the bank robbery. The police immediately believe him to be the one robbing the bank.

The bank robbery is told in 4 parts which jump around in time. The first part we only see what the police see. The second through 4th we get a combined view which pushes forward the story while also giving glimpses of what has lead Jean Claude to this point. For me this is the one real weakness of the movie. The bank robbery started to drag during a few moments while it was repeating the story from a different perspective. There is a lot to like and even love in JCVD though.
Jean Claude is capable of acting. I truly felt sorry for him at several points throughout the movie and I was truly rooting for him not as an action hero but as a real person. He is able to laugh at himself while still remaining a sense of earnestness. There is one scene where he rises up out of the set in order to provide a monologue that is causing a bit of a split in the reviews. People either seem to love it or hate it. You can count me in on the love it side.

JCVD is not a typical Van Damme movie but is much more. It is a Jean Claude movie that will sorely disappoint viewers who are simply looking for a good not direct to DVD Van Damme movie. It will however provide great experience and will even give you something to think about for a while after. Oh and here is one final comment; the ending of JCVD provided the audience with what both the Van Damme fans and also the Jean Claude fans with what they wanted. It was truly a perfect moment when the whole audience erupted with a cheer during the last few moments of the bank robbery.

JCVD is really going to be one of the treasures of TIFF and even if you are not a fan of his action movies it is one you need to check out.

Let’s Kick This Sucker Off. Van Damme style.