Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a couple of Fantastic Fest reviews for ya’. We have a New Zealand horror flick starring John Rhys-Davies and a Spanish thriller starring Paddy Considine and Gary Oldman. Let’s get the Kiwis out of the way first.
THE FERRYMAN
Maybe I’m just getting tired of the modern horror style, but one of the very first things that grabbed me about this film was the way it was shot. After a flashier opening, the movie is done completely old school… like they were editing on film and every single cut was a lot of work, not like they were cutting on a computer where they can throw as many stylistic cuts in as they wanted.
This film felt like a real throwback, something you’d find on video at a mom and pop video store when you were a teenager and eating up every horror flick with a decent video cover.
I’m also a sucker for the sub-genre this film falls under. Going into it, I knew nothing about it other than Sallah was in it and it was a New Zealand horror flick. So, of course I wanted to check it out. I can’t think of a New Zealand horror film I don’t like. THE LOCALS was a little lame, but BLACK SHEEP, BRAINDEAD and now FERRYMAN. They know how to make ‘em.
So the movie is about a group out on a boat sailing from New Zealand to Fiji. Three couples… a Kiwi couple, the Fiji driver and his Kiwi wife and an American couple. They run across an SOS and rescue John Rhys-Davies from a rundown ship.
The subgenre I was talking about above is the body jumping subgenre. Stuff like FALLEN, for instance. I didn’t have any idea that this film fell under that subgenre.
Essentially, The Ferryman of the title is a looming threat. He’s not the main villain. The Ferryman takes you to the other side, so when you cheat death you cheat The Ferryman out of his fare and he’ll always try to find you. Our group stumbles across someone who has cheated death for a thousand years and has this creature breathing down his neck, just waiting to finally claim his soul.
It’s not perfect… the American characters sport the most ridiculous Southern accents ever, there are a few moments where they use what I’m assuming are indie NZ band rock songs where they should have really used a good, tense score and there are a few lines that are so on the nose as to be over-the-top, but the good very much outweighs the bad.
Amber Sainsbury is our lead, the innocent girl. She’s a good actress on top of being very beautiful. Tamar Hassan is the Captain of the boat and plays it with such a happy go lucky, gentle giant glee that you can’t help but like him almost immediately.
When all is said and done, it’s not going to change the genre, but it’s a solid addition, one that deserves better than to be lost through the cracks or condemned to direct-to-video land.
THE BACKWOODS
THE BACKWOODS surprised me as well. Once again, it’s a movie that goes for a traditional, non-experimental or non-formulaic genre storytelling method. It’s a traditionally executed film with a strong focus on character.
We have two English couples going out hunting in the woods of Northern Spain. Gary Oldman and Paddy Considine are the men and Virginie Ledoyen and Aitana Sanchez-Gijon are the women.
The guys go out hunting and stumble across a seemingly abandoned building. What they find in there begins a cat & mouse game with some of the countryfolk.
There’s a strong STRAW DOGS feeling to this film. The way it is paced, the situation, the characters… all feel very inspired by Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece. And not in a bad rip-off way, either.
Considine’s character is the closest we get to a direct homage. He’s squeamish, he’s clueless with his hot wife, he’s a little bit of a pussy, but even he has a snapping point. That’s pretty much Dustin Hoffman in STRAW DOGS, but Considine is a talented enough actor to make his character his own.
As always, Oldman’s great. I think that guy knows what he’s doing. I’ll go out on a limb and say I think he might be a really good actor.
Director Koldo Serra made a confident, beautiful throw-back to a more character-driven suspense picture. It looks like a million bucks and just watching Paddy Considine and Gary Oldman play in the same sandbox is worth seeking this out.
Lionsgate has it, supposedly, but they don’t have a release date yet.
I’ve seen a couple more flicks worth writing about, so I’ll get started on reviews for those before my midnight movie.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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