Double Review: Spiral / Rasen (1998) Review

Written by: Kôji Suzuki.
Directed by: Jōji Iida

Spiral had big shoes to fill. Both Hideo Nakata's and Gore Verbinski's versions of The Ring will be immortalised in horror history for popularising Eastern horror in the West, reinvigorating the horror genre after a fairly lacklustre decade, creating one of the scariest moments in film (do I really have to mention it's the part where Sadaku crawls out of the TV at Ryūji?) and achieving the prestigious title of one of my favourite movies ever. Spiral was never going to exceed that. I know that. And reading the book / watching the film, I was painfully aware that I would have to separate my feeling for the Ring from this story to fairly judge it on its own merits. Despite this, it is still difficult for me to admit that Spiral did not meet my deliberately lowered expectations.

The copy of Spiral (the book) I own describes Kôji Suzuki as "Haruki Murakami blended with Stephen King" on the front cover. This leads me to believe that the journalist quoted here has either never read Stephen King and Haruki Murakami, or instead has never read Kôji Suzuki and just assumed he is Haruki Murakami blended with Stephen King because he is both Japanese and a horror author. My largest qualm about this comparison is Kôji Suzuki's contempt for excessive characterisation. He tends to jump into the crux of the story, attempting to short-cut sympathy for characters by having them deal with some traumatic event or memory, rather than create rich backstories. This is a completely legitimate strategy in films: you don't have long to get the audience on your side. However, in a novel, without those extra details about the character and their motivation, I felt like I was missing a piece of the picture. I should also mention that I read the English version of Spiral, so I can't say with complete conviction that things were lost in translation.

Dr Ando is the tragic protagonist of this story. In both the film and book, he is still dealing with the drowning of his son which he blames himself for, living alone and working as a pathologist who performs autopsies. As I mentioned before, tragic, dark characters are good for audience sympathy but one of the biggest problems is that Ando was made TOO dark and tragic. He lacked any readily identifiable motivation. He contemplates suicide several times, razor at the wrists ready, but never follows through. And I never knew why. His desire to stay alive is slightly clearer in the book, which describes his lust towards his dead friends' lover and later her 'sister.' This did a lot to hurt the sympathy created for him at the start of the narrative. He's tortured by his son's death, but not tortured enough to stop him from thinking with his dick. Compare this to Reiko Asakawa in the first movie (I know I said I wouldn't compare the two, I'm sorry), who is first motivated by her own inherit curiosity and a sense of duty, then the stakes are raised again when her own life is threatened, then again when her son is put at risk. Ando seems to have nothing to lose except the chance to get laid.

The other horror faux pas it commits is explaining loose ends from its predecessor. Spiral demystifies the Ring mythos so much, I'm almost tempted to call it science fiction rather than horror. Supernatural horror needs a sense of mystery and the unexplained, it prevents the horror from becoming familiar and killing the suspense.

If I had to pick one over the other, I'd say the book was slightly better than the film. The detail it could go into just made it less hokey. The code breaking sections of the book were actually really interesting, but could not have possibly be translated to the film, meaning the film missed out on those satisfying "a-ha" moments when Ando cracked them (note: 'a-ha' as in an exclamation of working something out, not the Norwegian pop band. The latter are rarely praised for their contributions to the horror genre). Exposition in Rasen was pretty laboured, resulting in some awkward dialogue and a few of the characters having psychic abilities in order for the story to foreshadow necessary plot reveals. The film did have some cool moments, like Ando's hallucinations and nightmare sequences, but these were spoilt by poor characters, an ill-conceived plot and a vanilla twist ending.

Hopefully, I will get around to watching Hideo Nakata's original version Ring 2 in the next few weeks. While I wasn't a fan of his American version, his competency as a film-maker is abundantly evident, and it surely can't be as disappointing as the legitimate sequel to Suzuki's Ring.

Book: 2 out of 5

Film: 1.5 out of 5

Book Review: Cell by Stephen King

Synopsis: Graphic artist Clay Riddell was in the heart of Boston on that brilliant autumn afternoon when hell was unleashed before his eyes. Without warning, carnage and chaos reigned. Ordinary people fell victim to the basest, most animalistic destruction.

And the apocalypse began with the ring of a cell phone...

My Thoughts: Even though I've just spent a year researching and writing about zombies I actually don't read much zombie fiction. Much of the stuff I've read, or glimpsed into, has been appalling. Don't get me wrong, there is some great horror fiction out there involving zombies, but there is also a lot of trash, and it always seems to be the trash that finds its way across my path.

Cellisn't really a zombie novel. At first it seems like it may be. Within minutes of the "pulse" (more on that in a moment) people seemed to have lost their minds and developed a thirst for human blood/flesh and a desire to rip limbs from the nearest person. Several characters unaffected by the pulse exclaim that the others are like the zombies they've seen in films, but as time passes it becomes clear that these aren't reanimated corpses hungry for human flesh. They're something different, more complex and not nearly as dangerous. Well, they're dangerous, but not in the same way that zombies are. To make my life a little easier I'm going to continue to refer to them as zombies or pulse infecteds.

The central character is Clay, a graphic novel illustrator visiting Boston to try and sell his graphic novel. As the novel begins he's making his way back to his hotel, hoping the good news on his sale will be the catalyst needed to convince his estranged wife that he's not a failure and that their marriage stands a chance of survival. As he stops for ice-cream things start to fall apart. He notices a man attacking a dog, some loud bangs and screams from further away, and the business woman in front of him drop her phone and start freaking out. Within seconds hell is unleashed and the world as we know it will never be the same again.

Along with the zombie-like people attacking anyone unfortunate enough to get in their path, there seems to be a rush of people trying to end their lives. People jump from buildings, crash cars and even crash planes into buildings. Clay recognises similarities to the chaos that reigned in the aftermath of 9/11 and assumes that it's a terrorist attack of some kind. He's probably right on the money, but we'll never truly know for sure. What we do know is what the characters learn as the book continues. A pulse of some kind spread across the country (and presumably the world) and affected anyone using a mobile phone for a phone conversation. Without giving away too many of the details which you should learn for yourself as you read, the pulse appears to work almost like a computer virus, completely eliminating regular brain function and reactivating it in a more primitive and incomplete sense. During the first moments of the attack Clay finds himself joined by Tom, a man whose life was saved by his cat when the cat knocked his phone of a table that morning and broke it. And as the two men make their way back to Clay's hotel they save Alice, a 15 year old also visiting Boston, who just saw her mother turned into one of "them".

The three of them form a band of "normies" who strike north to try to make it back to Clay's home town to rescue his wife and 12 year son. So begins the post-apocalyptic road trip that King is so fantastic at writing, and so begins the unravelling of a story that had me captivated from the first page. The band of three make their way through deserted towns, occasionally passing by other survivors, sticking to travelling at night when the zombies are "asleep". The group grows larger when they happen across a school and meet Jordan, a 12 year old computer wizz and Charles Ardai, the acting headmaster of the school. It's here that the story starts to progress from a survival novel into a more action driven novel, and then begins to parallel one of my favourite books, I Am Legend.

I've heard a few people make comparisons between Cell and The Stand, and while there are definite similarities, at the core they are completely different books. The real connections are between Cell and I Am Legend, on the surface very different, but fundamentally the same. The heart of this novel is about the similarities and disparities between the survivors and those affected by the pulse. I don't want to give away any spoilers about the lasting results of the pulse, but like I said earlier, they only appear to be zombies at first. After that they change, and as the majority of people left (it's never established if the pulse affected everyone worldwide or just Americans) the question is raised whether they're the "freaks" and the "monsters" or are the few survivors, the ones who wish harm on the zombie pulse victims and are in the minority, the true monsters? This, essentially, is the driving force in I Am Legend as Robert Neville finds himself the only human being left not infected, and proves to be the most interesting aspect of both the novels.

Technology plays an integral role in this book. It is the tool utilised by the nameless/faceless terrorists (if it was terrorists) to destroy modern society, but just as technology ruled our lives before the pulse it informs our lives afterwards as well. Though the "normies" are forced to live in a world devoid of electricity, mobile phones (lest you wish to be turned), transport and computers, the zombies are markedly similar to the technology that destroyed them. Again, I'm not sure what else I can say without spoiling the revelations of the story, but just as their brains were wiped and rebooted there are other parallels drawn through the story. To help establish these similarities King uses the young character Jordan to bridge the gap between technology and the techno-illiterates that have survived the pulse. This is where my one complaint comes in. Though I really loved the character of Jordan, he's vulnerable and innocent and becomes the son and younger brother of the other survivors in the group, his role as an expositionary device was a little too obvious for me. Even if he were a complete computer genius, his ability to understand the organic technological aspects of the zombies and explain these similarities, as well as how the pulse would have worked, were a little too detailed and unlikely for me. He is the bridge between the two groups, understanding how things work on both sides, but I just don't feel like he thought or talked like a 12 year old when technology comes up. He will be scared and vulnerable and talking in teen slang one minute, and the next it sounds like he should be helming Microsoft. Basically, while he was a charming and loveable character, his position as a literary device stuck out like a sore thumb and occasionally distracted from the story.

This is one of those books that can incite hours of discussion about the condition of the zombies, the role of technology and the comparison between it and other books (namely The Stand and I Am Legend). It's an adventurous, compassionate and thought-proving tale of a post-apocalypse brought about by our own dependence, and a father's journey to find his son. A really great read, one of the best Stephen King novels I've read this year.

5 out of 5 mind destroying phone calls.

Film Review: Shark Night 3D

Synopsis: A weekend at a lake house in the Louisiana Gulf turns into a nightmare for seven vacationers as they are subjected to shark attacks.

My Thoughts: It's inevitable that any film about sharks will be compared to Jaws, and Jaws this ain't. I didn't go into Shark Night with anything resembling high, or even mediocre, expectations, but it fell short of even my smallest of hopes.

The story begins with "nerdy" pre-med student Nick, struggling to study while his "crazy" room mate plays video games. After giving in his studious pursuits to join the game they're joined by Malik, the jock being tutored by Nick. He comes terrorising into the room ranting about how he needed a C average in order to stay on the team, and Nick "the best tutor on campus" would pay if his football career went down the drain. Anyway, menace, menace, menace "Nah just kidding Brah, I got a B-" Yuk Yuk Yuk. As a reward for Nick's awesome tutorial skills he invites the two "nerds" (actually, that's unfair, one is at least pretty geeky) to spend the weekend at Sara's summer house on a lake in Louisiana.

The cast are the usual suspects in your typical teen slasher/mutilation horror. You have the nerdy guy who in actuality has a waxed chest and muscles almost as big as the jock.  Then there is his geeky, talkative sex-mad side-kick, the token minority guy who is in a relationship with the token minority girl (multiculturalism! Yay!), the sweet girl next door that the nerd is into but has a troubled past, the pretty boy and the "bad" girl (this one was getting a tattoo but set it up as if it was a one night stand . LFMAO!).

After arriving at the fancy summer house equipped with every mod-con except a phone, things quickly turn to shit when Malik is targeted by a shark while doing mad flips on a wakeboard. As he struggles to survive, minus one arm, the rest struggle to find away to get home. There are no phones, the boats aren't safe, nor are jet-skis, "friendly" rednecks, and there is no way off their secluded island retreat except through the water. The rest cycles through your typical formula, sweet girl's troubled past comes back to haunt them, a good guy is actually a bad guy, people die and a weak comment on modern society is explained obviously enough for a dog to understand.

The real problem with this film is that it tries to hard to have a story. I didn't come into this film to see everyone come out the other side better, wiser and stronger people. I wanted to see the obnoxious college students become shark food, and I wanted to see that done as gory and as perversely as possible. The film needed to cut out half the weak story-line and dialogue and introduce at least 20 new characters, even if their only role is to run into the water and straight into the shark's open mouth. Even though the lake is literally teeming with shark we only see one shark attack that isn't directly linked to the group of college kids we're following through the film. The film-makers seemed torn between delivering a balls to the wall gory and ridiculous attack flick (think Piranha 3D) and trying to create a horror story that had a coherent storyline and message. They failed abysmally in the storyline department, a 10 year old could probably do better, and only on occasion delivered decently obscene and 3D-worthy shark attacks. It needed to channel a little bit of Pirahna 3D, and the scene where dozens of college kids were obliterated in the most offensive and bloody ways possible was perfect for this style of film, but Shark Night was missing anything that came even close to hilarious and sickening.

I didn't walk into this film expecting the greatest horror film released this year, but I didn't walk out with the giddy feeling of watching a ridiculously fun teen horror romp either. Stack the unsatisfying lack of gore and insane shark attacks with the poor acting, atrocious storyline and pointless 3D and you've got a film not worth seeing.

1.5 out of 5 thrashing sharks.

Film Review: Cronos (1993)

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro.

With the Brisbane International Film Festival fresh in mind, I'm really excited that my first review on this blog is one of my personal highlights from the festival. Guillermo del Toro's debut feature, Cronos, is my favourite kind of horror film. It was restrained and intelligent, with tasteful body horror themes reminiscent of David Cronenberg. It is incredibly satisfying (and horrifying) to watch a character you genuinely empathise with transform physically and emotionally into something monstrous, wondering how far from their original form they will descend and whether they have crossed the point of no return.

The tragic protagonist in this tale is Jesus Gris (played by Federico Luppi), an antique store owner and loving grandfather. His tender relationship with his young granddaughter, Aurora, initially endears him to us. We are also introduced to his wife, a dance instructor, who appears to have grown distant from Jesus (possibly due to their difference in age). This adds another element of fragility to Jesus' character, as he dutifully trudges through his morning routine and goes to work.

This turns for Gris when he discovers in his shop a 16th century, golden, alchemical mechanism that, unbeknownst to our hero, grants the user eternal life. After innocently winding up the device, it latches onto his hand and injects him with what the audience is shown to be the secretions of an insect still living inside it. This first use is forgiveable, but Gris' weakness becomes apparent as he becomes addicted to it. Thus begins Gris' descent. It immediately reminded me of Seth Brundle from The Fly's transformation. Initially, both characters see physical benefits, becoming younger and stronger, but this new found sense of power also drives them away from those closest to them. And then skin starts to come off and you see what's been growing underneath... but more about that later. Despite the similarities, the two characters aren't carbon copies. Jesus Gris' rejuvenation, while scaring his granddaughter, actually brings him closer to his wife. And rather than letting his hubris destroy his relationship with Aurora completely, Gris works hard to convince his granddaughter that he knows what he's doing, though he's clearly trying to convince himself just as much.

Events escalate again for Gris when he develops a taste for human blood and is murdered (temporarily) by a thug trying to track down the esoteric device on behalf of his terminally ill employer/uncle. Gris luckily regains mortality just before he is cremated, and the gravity of what he has become sets in. I don't really want to go into the plot too much more lest I ruin it for anyone who is yet to see it, but trust me when I say it's a satisfying story from beginning until the end.

The character of Aurora is the innocent of the story, an archetype that appears in several of del Toro's films (Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone, and we can assume from the trailers, Don't be Afraid of the Dark). She is almost completely silent the entire film, which seems to be a good way to stop child actors screwing up your movie. Not that she didn't perform well, its just a good rule of thumb. But I digress.

As Gris' addiction to the device worsens, he starts to put Aurora at risk. These selfish acts are far removed from those of the dutiful grandfather we're introduced to at the beginning of the film. Body horror is often an allegory for all kinds of issues, such as disease, our relationship to technology and (more often than you'd think) emasculation, but I'm hard strung trying to remember of another body horror movie that deals with addiction. But when you think about the physical and mental degradation that an addict goes through, I wonder why there aren't more.

Federico Luppi carries us expertly through the Jesus Gris' character arch, from endearment to pity. Another great piece of casting was Ron Perlman, playing the cocky thug trying to track down the device. Perlman apparently offers even more value for Guillermo del Toro, generously agreeing to pay-cuts when the film went over budget. Del Toro did make him Hellboy 10 years later, so they're probably about even now...

Watching this film reminded me just how good del Toro is and how important he is to modern horror, but also how clear his vision has been since he started making films. You really must watch this move if the opportunity presents itself. It will leave you feeling very satisfied.

4.5 alchemical devices of immortality out of 5

Book Review: Pet Sematary by Stephen King

Synopsis: When Louis Creed & his family move from Chicago into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son--and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all...right down to the friendly cat. The road in front of their home frequently claims the lives of neighborhood pets. Near their house, local children have created a cemetery for the dogs & cats killed by the steady stream of transports on the busy highway. Deeper in the woods lies another graveyard, an ancient Indian burial ground whose sinister properties Louis discovers when the family cat is killed.


My Thoughts: On Mother's Day, at age 10, I went across to my neighbours house to watch a film. My neighbour had a history of corrupting the innocent and girly child that I was, thanks to him I swapped my Cabbage Patch Doll for a skateboard, and my Spice Girls, B*witched and Hanson Cd's for Blink 182, Korn and Frenzel Rhomb. Films though, I don't think I ever watched age appropriate films. I was six or seven when I watched Silence of the Lambs, and Death Becomes Her and The Witches of Eastwick were on repeat when I was about 7 or 8. So my corrupting neighbour couldn't really corrupt my position as a film enthusiast, but he did introduce me to horror with this gem of a film. I loved it, and quickly became a fan, devouring other Stephen King films quickly after before moving on to the typical teen slasher fair and then branching out even further. It wasn't until I was about 14 that I read my first Stephen King book (I failed an attempt to read It at 13, fucking clowns!) and it wasn't until this year that I visited the book that inspired the film that began my journey into the world of horror.

As a 10 year old girl I do remember jumping in fright as I watched the film, but I also remember that fear being rather secondary to my general enjoyment of the film. The fear was much more present as I read through the book, building slowly yet fiercely as I made my way through the story. All that considered there is very little 'horror' for much of the book, instead it is the extremely effective use of ominous foreshadowing and a somewhat brutally stark view on the horror that surrounds the loss of a loved one, particularly the loss of a child.

The loss of a loved one is always difficult, but it produces a different reaction in different people. When Judd loses his wife, he takes it hard but he handles it with strength and silence. When Rachel's sister Zelda died as a 10 year old of spinal meningitis her parents tried to disappear her from their home as quickly as possible, while Rachel was haunted by her memory for decades more. When the Creeds lose their two year old son Gage to a speeding truck on the highway that runs past their house, they break down. Their six year old daughter Ellie stops speaking and carries a picture of her brother with her at all time, Rachel breaks down physically and mentally and Louis is struck perhaps hardest of all, since he was only inches from grabbing his son before the truck came past and he knows a way he can help Gage live again.

The desire to find a way for a lost child to live again isn't unique to Louis, however it is only a character in the hands of King who happens to have an Indian burial ground a quick walk from the backyard. As he considers whether the risk of a resurrected son is worth the risk he faces the questions many parents struggle with when they have a child in a major accident of some kind. What if he can't talk or think for himself? What if he can't smile the way he used to? What if he comes back different? What if he isn't the son they knew? Could they still love him? Sure Louis has the added concern that his son could come back 'touched' by evil, but the real fear is that the Gage that returns won't be the Gage he loved so much.

Perhaps my fear was preempted because I'd seen the film and knew what was coming, but I did find the general atmosphere thick with looming horror. There are several instances where characters experience moments of premonition, hairs sticking up on the back on necks, desires to run far, far away, the return of old nightmares and strange glints in eyes. As the months roll by and the seasons change the characters ignore the signs until they can no longer stop the wheels that are in motion. As it continues to build it finally explodes in 50 odd pages of complete heart-stopping horror that picks you up and throws you against a wall, again and again and again.

Now I know it may seem like I've given away some major spoilers but rest assured everything I've told you can be found either on the cover or within the first couple of chapters. What I've withheld though, are the much smaller though extremely important events that are crucial to the book's finale. I'll leave them for you to discover yourself. This book was a fantastic read and delivered far more than I was expecting. I was sure I'd read a well-crafted novel that terrified my pants off, but I hadn't expected it to have the human element that it did. It was so raw, personal and emotional and it completely broke my heart.

5 out of 5 smooshed toddler heads.