Just a quick word on Dark Water which I saw in the theaters Sunday. I'm sure this is becoming the cool movie to hate, after all, everything that was right was horror a couple of years ago (Japanese horror influence and remakes) has become everything that is wrong with horror today. Wes Craven even knocked it from the stage at Fangoria, saying that the industry does not know what horror fans want, they think that horror fans want movie about 'dark water'. Well, Cub liked this movie, I was underwhelmed, but as far as the ending goes - and keep in mind that I have not seen the Japanese version nor do I want to spoil this one for you - I think that the sort of feel-good finish to the movie is a welcome change, though that sort of thing might go over better in a less cynical Japan. Remember The Eye?
Eyeball, from Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox, City of the Walking Dead), is considered by some to be the worst giallo ever made. I avoided this one after seeing a pretty weak preview for it on another Prism video tape. Later, I regretted passing it up in the bargain bin when I found out that a horror publication went so far as to name itself after this movie. Was I missing a classic?
After watching it, I think so. I loved seeing these vacationers - on a bus tour of Spain - get killed off one by one. Sure, in the real world the tour would have ended after the first person lost an eye. I also doubt that pigs could eat a dead body as quickly as they did in this movie. But me, I never sweat those small details, a little bit of style more than makes up for it. Here we have a killer in a sharp red raincoat, borrowed from Don't Look Now. We have lesbians on a fashion shoot. We have big Italian sunglasses that Cub would die for. No, my girlfriend did not watch this movie. As some of you may know, she has a phobia of eyes being punctured or torn out. The name of this movie alone was enough to tell me to watch it when she was out. Now she is pissed as I've been raving about it for a couple of days. Cub will be back for the next review where we are going to discuss a rare tape I discovered that could be the Holy Grail of Horror that we have all been looking for.
1 comment:
I allowed the title to put me off for a while, too, because I'm also somewhat squeamish about eyeball gore. But this is really a cool, quirky giallo that manages to live up to its name without being the nauseating, cringe-inducing splatterfest it sounds like. Must-see for any giallo/slasher fan, and highly recommended for any horror/thriller fan.
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