The Burrowers (2008)

IMDB

A good western is very rare nowadays. A good horror movie isn't easy to come by either. So whenever a good horror-western appears, it is cause for celebration. Below is a review by Todd Brown that I find does the film justice.


TIFF Review: THE BURROWERS
by Todd Brown, September 10, 2008 11:03 PM

More ominous than it is outright frightening JT Petty's The Burrowers is an odd little beast that just so happens to be populated with odd little beasts. But put aside your creature feature expectations with this one because Petty is aiming to give you something different, something unique. Though the creatures are certainly present The Burrowers plays more as a psychological thriller than a full bore horror film, it is a film far more concerned with the people the creatures prey upon than with the creatures themselves.

We begin in the Dakotas at the height of the Old West. Irish immigrant Coffey is in love with the local settler MaryAnne and determined to make her his bride. The feelings seem mutual and he has asked her father for her hand but before things can progress any further MaryAnne's family homstead comes under attack. Four are killed, six are missing. And when Coffey arrives on the scene the only logical conclusion is that the family has been taken by Indians.

Coffey is wrong, of course, but that doesn't stop him from rounding up a pair of local ranchers - played by Clancy Brown and Lost's William Mapother, who seems to have been born for this sort of role - and setting off in pursuit. But pursuit of what? All they can do is guess who took the family, the only clues around the homestead a number of strange holes in the ground. And when they enlist the help of the local army detachment the commanding officer seems far more interested in torturing Indians than in doing anything that might actually be useful. And then they meet a native woman who talks vaguely of the burrowers ...

No doubt about it, though the creatures get more than their share of screen time and drive the narrative of the picture this is a film much more concerned with the constant break downs in communication. Everybody is making faulty assumptions about everybody else, nobody takes the time to really stop and figure out what is going on - a situation that leads to so much needless tragedy, since the signs are all around them if only they would take the time to look. This is a film about entrenched enemies, about it being easier to blame the supposed enemy you know ragardless of whether they are actually to blame or not - a fairly relevant point to make in today's political climate - and the consequences of that. Is it accidental that the creatuers anaesthetize their victims before killing them so that they die painlessly while the humans indulge in pointless torture in the name of extracting information they know they will not get? I highly doubt it.

The Burrowers leans more towards the western end of the horror-western label, playing out as a film far more about atmosphere and human relationships than anything else. Loaded with strong performances and beautifully shot, it is a slow burner of a picture, one that doesn't overwhelm but lingers well beyond the final frames. An intriguing blend of genres.




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http://tinypaste.com/375ee
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Language: English
Subtitle: English (srt)
File : 700 MB, duration: 1:36:31, type: AVI, 1 audio stream
Video : 3.92 GB, 5821 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 640*256 (2.50:1), XVID
Audio : 78 MB, 113 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, MP3, CBR

Dead Birds (2004)

Dead Birds (2004)
Director: Alex Turner
Writer: Simon Barrett
Genre: Horror / Thriller
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Don't let the generic cover put you off. This is a well done, effectively scary horror movie. Well acted, atmospheric, eerie, polished, almost cliche-free with a twist ending.
To all fellow horror fans, I heartily recommend this movie.
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From Ain't It Cool:

I really fuckin' dug this film. I almost blew it off because I've heard the ending was really predictable and a friend of mine saw it and thought it was boring. Maybe I really love this film because I went in expecting it to be shitty or at the very least dull, but for whatever reason this movie really, really worked for me.

The set-up is simple. You have a group of bank robbers in the 1800s hiding out with some confederate gold in an out of the way plantation-like house. Creepy shit happens. Visions, creatures, possessions, ghosts, etc. It actually felt a lot like a video game set-up. You have the creepy dark house, the even creepier cornfield that surrounds the place, the fucked up barn, the door that won't open until the very end of the story, etc. I wish director Alex Turner had gotten ahold of RESIDENT EVIL before Paul WS Anderson turned it into a weak actioneer ALIENS rip-off. He understands the pacing and the level of reveals needed to pull off one of those horror video games as a feature film as is evident in this original film.

I've come to find that this film was just released straight to video by Lion's Gate and having looked up the DVD and seeing the cover I can safely say, "Ignore that crappy direct to video looking shitty ass cover." This movie has pitch perfect pacing, a great cast, great cinematography, genuine scares and an interesting story.

The pacing isn't slow or boring. To me it was very deliberately paced with a scare or real bit of tension happening regularly. There was never any moment of the movie where I was thinking, "All right... get on with it, already!" The film opens with a gunfight and we get a monster 10 minutes later. No shit. A creepy monster no less, with needle-like teeth and grotesque pink skin like an aborted rat except the size of an average sized dog.

The cast is full of familiar faces and names. Henry Thomas (ET) leads the gang, which features his brother, played by Patrick Fugit (ALMOST FAMOUS), his right-hand man Isaiah Washington (who is badass, by the way), his woman Nicki Lynn Aycox and a pair of untrustworthy sorts played by Michael Shannon (TIGERLAND, VANILLA SKY, 8 MILE) and Mark Boone Junior who seems to have been in everything ever shot, including MEMENTO and the upcoming BATMAN BEGINS.

The tension in this movie is truly what makes it succeed, though. The cast is very important, but the atmosphere, sound design, cinematography and structure is what makes it stick out to me. The last time I was this tense in a theater was when I saw JU-ON: THE GRUDGE at AFM a couple years ago, before it was known. I don't think DEAD BIRDS is as good a film as JU-ON, but that's not a knock against it.

The monsters are well designed. The only negative is that there are a few scenes that are overly CGIed out, but there's nothing in this film that is as ridiculous as the "Jack-Pot" eyes in THE GRUDGE.

Also, to be clear, the ending is not what you'd expect, it's not a cliche. I know I was surprised. All in all, I strongly suggest hitting your local video store and checking this one out. I just wish Lions Gate would quit releasing their shitty movies like ALONE IN THE DARK to 2000 screens and put out a genuinely scary horror film like DEAD BIRDS.

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http://tinypaste.com/c5870
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Language: English
Subtitles: English, Italiano, Espanol, Nederlands,Arabic,Bulgarian,Hrvatski,Czech,Dansk,Finish,Greek,Hindi,Hungarian,Norsk,Polish,Portugues,Romanian,Slovenian,Svenska,Turkish (vobsub) + English (srt)

File : 696 MB, duration: 1:27:19, type: AVI, 1 audio stream
Video : 516 MB, 827 Kbps, 25.0 fps, 640*336 (16:9), XVID
Audio : 179 MB, 288 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, MP3, CBR
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Mong ming yuen yeung (1988) aka On The Run

IMDB

A gem of a suspenseful, intense noir crime drama from Hong Kong. On The Run is one of the darkest, grittiest and most violent movie to ever come out of Hong Kong. Yuen Bao stars in the film but there is none of his trademark acrobatics here. In fact, there is no martial arts at all. The brutal fight to the death at the end is an all-out, no holds barred brawl.
The story involves a detective forced to team up with a cold-blooded hitwoman from Thailand, who just happens to be the murderer of his ex-wife, against corrupt policemen.
The use of colors and lighting is simply fantastic. The script is intelligent and supported by a very strong performance all around. Not to mention the score which is great and appropriately moody.

On The Run is, quite simply put, a real gem.
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Review from HKMDB:

Alfred Cheung has directed a few decent films over the course of his career, most of them being comedies such as Her Fatal Ways, or All's Well, Ends Well 97. But nothing else in his filmography would lead you to believe he was capable of delivering a film as polished and stylish as On the Run, a gritty and quite violent crime noir classic which he wrote and directed in 1988. The movie is truly a gem that represents not only one of the creative peaks of HK cinema in the late 80s but also a highlight in the acting career of star Yuen Biao.

Shot mostly at night, the film is awash in colored neon light, reflected in the wet asphalt of HKs urban jungle, bouncing off car windshields, and providing a warm glow through windows and doors, bathing walls and interiors in strong reds or greens. The color composition is lovely, and on more than one occasion I wished I could freeze and print out the image on the screen to hang it on a wall. Cheung uses the environment to perfection, and creates moody, dark settings simply by playing with shadow and light. The closeups are often gorgeously framed and enhanced by natural effects, such as Pat Ha's face behind a screen of rain pouring down a car windshield, or the silhouette of Pat Ha and Yuen Biao against a background of staggered angled walls, each lighted in different colors. It all looks very stylish without ever becoming mannered - and it was shot years before WKW and Christopher Doyle came along...

The story is unrelentingly dark and tense, without ever becoming depressing or moody. And Cheung ensures that the tone of the movie, once established, is carried through in a consistent manner - no comic relief, no jarring concessions to sentiment, no self-referential irony, just honest, direct story-telling in the best film noir tradition.

Yuen Biao plays a CID detective whose wife is brutally assassinated in a restaurant by a lone female killer (Pat Ha). It turns out she had uncovered evidence of wrong-doing by some members of the homicide squad, and so the corrupt police officers ordered the hit to keep her silent. Yuen Biao starts investigating and soon finds the murderer, except that the aforementioned bad guys are trying to silence the hired killer as well - Yuen Biao spoils their plans by saving the killer, which puts him in their crosshairs as well, and soon Yuen Biao and Pat Ha are on the run for their lives, with nowhere to turn to for help.

The action is presented in a realistic manner - no acrobatic gunplay, no fancy moves, no gravity-defying stunts. Pat Ha is convincing as the cold-blooded killer, and Yuen Biao for once gets to act, and does so very impressively: freed from the burden of having to display acrobatic stunts and martial arts prowess, he concentrates on his character and does an execellent job conveying his pain, despair and finally his deadly resolve. There's very little dialog in the scenes between Pat Ha and Yuen Biao, but still a picture of the complex relationship between these two hunted people begins to evolve. The dynamics between the two are quite involving, and I was completely caught up in their story. The bad guys are somewhat more stereotypical, although it helps that Charlie Chin as the lead villain gives a very calm, subdued performance that is all the more menacing precisely because he doesn't overact his role.

A lot of people die in this movie, including some characters who would be untouchable in a Hollywood film. The final showdown is extremely gritty and violent. Unfortunately, the movie ends right after this final fight, with only a screen caption giving a grim, bleak update on the fate of the survivors. Supposedly, there is a longer version of the film that includes an extended epilogue, but it's not on this Megastar dvd (with a running time of about 84 minutes).

I had very very high expectations for this movie, and I was still blown away by how good the film actually is. This is a must-see for any HK movie fan. Very strongly recommended.


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http://tinypaste.com/9d29a
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Language: Cantonese
Subtitles: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

File : 1.36 GB, duration: 1:24:09, type: AVI, 1 audio stream
Video : 1.14 GB, 1942 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 672*368 (16:9), XVID
Audio : 231 MB, 384 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 5 channels, AC3, CBR
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36 Hours to Die (1999) (TV)

IMDB

Excellent made-for-TV thriller directed by Yves Simoneau (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out). Don't let the TV label fool you, this movie is truly well-done, tightly scripted, stylishly directed and features a strong ensemble cast. The technical aspects are also very polished. If 36 Hours To Die was to be shown in theaters, I bet nobody could tell it was made for TV.
TV-movies are usually low-budgeted, forgettable stuff but every once in awhile, a gem appears and this is one of those.

Note:
I forgot to put part 9. A thousand apologies to everyone who downloaded. Part 9 is added now.
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Review from Variety:

"36 Hours to Die" feels so much like a Mafioso homage to Quentin Tarantino's eccentric stylings that it's a wonder the filmmakers didn't just go out and get Tarantino to make this TNT Original pic himself. Derivative though it may be, the imitation somehow works pretty well for high-profile scribe Robert Rodat (an Oscar nominee for "Saving Private Ryan") in his crafting a quirky, bizarre crime thriller that wants very badly to be an arthouse feature when it grows up. And while Treat Williams and Kim Cattrall spark a smoldering chemistry, and Carroll O'Connor turns in a deliciously crusty performance, the film is stolen out from under them all by a fellow named Saul Rubinek.

Rubinek expertly embodies the tone-shifting stylings of Rodat's colorfully intense teleplay in portraying a memorably disturbed wacko named Morano. Using every idiosyncratic trick in his repertoire, Rubinek -- whose character-acting credits include such films as "And the Band Played On" and "Nixon," and guest shots on "Frasier," "L.A. Law" and "Hill Street Blues" -- manages to paint us a villain who is at once menacing and pathetic, devious and oblivious, scary and weasly. Note to casting directors: This man should never be out of work.

What Rubinek seems to grasp better than anyone here is that "36 Hours" is warped to the core. Rodat and helmer Yves Simoneau spend the majority of the film twiddling with the audience's brain cells, giving the action and dialogue a firm enough tug to make everything just a little off center. It's a credit to Simoneau's artful instincts, and Rodat's skewed characterizations, that we're never really sure if this is supposed to be a parody of the thriller genre or simply a crime movie filled with nut cases who ran out of lithium.

Williams portrays Noah Stone, a guy consumed with a death wish of unknown origin. He is a brewery owner who is felled by a heart attack as the film opens. Noah's twit of a brother, Frank (Alain Goulem), pitched in during Noah's convalescence by running his business into the hands of organized-crime slime balls who are so nasty that one kills people by stabbing them with a screwdriver. A guy after Joe Pesci's own heart.

Quicker than you can say Gambino family, the bad guys (led by the evil Morano) have managed to take control of the beer biz and have arranged to use it as the linchpin in extorting $120 million. Noah is understandably less than thrilled with all of this, particularly when his sultry wife, Kim (Cattrall), and two kids become sitting targets. He has 36 hours to keep the money from transferring to Morano's slimy paws -- if he can live that long.

It is right about here that Rodat allows the script to start growing increasingly preposterous. For one, it turns out that Noah is, inexplicably, one of the world's only brewery bosses who happens to be an expert marksman.

It must have rubbed off from his uncle, an intense former cop named Jack "Balls" O'Malley (O'Connor). It also clashes with reality that Noah should be such a devoted family man and yet every decision he makes seems designed to place his clan in greater jeopardy.

There is also plenty of incongruously jarring violence scattered throughout "36 Hours," some of it designed to be irreverent and ironic in that "Pulp Fiction"/ "Fargo" kind of way. To be sure, Simoneau allowed director of photography Eric Cayla, production designer Anne Pritchard and music creator Richard Gregoire an unusually free hand, punctuated by mockingly artsy slow-mo and classical opera to boost that Mafia mood.

Tech credits are generally sharp and imaginative.

Camera, Eric Cayla; production designer, Anne Pritchard; editor, Yves Langlois; music, Richard Gregoire; sound, Bruce Carwardine; casting, Vera Miller, Michelle Allen, Clare Walker. Running time: 2 HOURS

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http://tinypaste.com/2937c
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File : 1.62 GB, duration: 1:30:36, type: AVI, 1 audio stream
Video : 1.53 GB, 2431 Kbps, 25.0 fps, 640*480 (4:3), XVID
Audio : 83 MB, 129 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, MP3, VBR,

Oi yue shing (2000) aka A War Named Desire

IMDB

When thinking about HK shoot-em-up action movies, the names John Woo, Johnny To and Tsui Hark immediately come to one's mind. But there are many lesser-known and often overlooked Hong Kong films that are truly well-done and deserve to be discovered. While A War Named Desire is not totally up there with John Woo's A better tomorrow, The Killer and Hard-boiled or Johnny To's The Mission and Exiled, it still stands on its own as an extremely entertaining and refreshing take on a popular film genre: the triad movies.

It is superbly acted by the always excellent Francis Ng and Gigi Leung in one of her most memorable performances as an achingly beautiful yet very lethal femme fatale. While there are plenty of shootouts in the film, the director still leaves space for character development which make them more believable than usual. The gunfights are, of course, crazy and stylish as can be expected.

If you want an action movie with a solid story, well-crafted characters and ultra-stylized gunfights, definitely check out A War Named Desire.

Below is the review from H.K. DVD Heaven:

Travelling to Cambodia in search of his older brother Charles, Jones (Daniel Chan) and his girlfriend Jess (Pace Wu) find life a lot harsher than in Hong Kong.
Nearly 15 years have passed since the brothers met, Charles (Francis Ng) having left with the family savings. After their mother dies, Jones believes it time that the money is paid back...with interest.
However, Jones doesn't get quite what he bargained for, and after being framed for the murder of a local gang boss, must not only heal the rift between him and his brother, but also find the real culprit.

Directorial flourishes punctuate this superbly acted and beautifully scored film from little known director Alan Mak.
Although both Daniel Chan and Pace Wu are equally solid in their roles, it's Francis Ng's portrayal of Charles which sets the film alight.
Working extremely well alongside Dave Wong, Francis exudes a ruthlessness which makes his triad character both utterly believable and totally cold. Thankfully, Ng also adds an emotional centre to his character which raises him far above many a Hong Kong anti-hero.

Whilst Gigi Leung's involvement in the film is slight, her impact is massive. In one of the film's most memorable scenes, she and Charles ballroom dance whilst being surrounded by a large group of rival gang members. At the slightest command, both draw their weapons and decimate their attackers.
Although this scene could have felt like any other action set-piece from a HK film, its direction follows the music, leaving the pair to literally waltz past their opponents.
Neither overdoing or underplaying the relationship of the two characters, director Mak creates a nice balance to their scenes, where little is said but much is understood.

Above all else, this 2000 production reminded me of an aspect of Hong Kong cinema which is often overlooked - the soundtrack. An eclectic mix of musical styles is blended with the superb visuals with an assurance I've not seen in a long time.
A wonderful acoustic guitar piece accompanies the film's opening, setting the tone and standard for what is to come.
This high standard is upheld throughout, as dance, canto-pop and instrumental music is married perfectly to the movie's visuals.

If the film has one flaw, it's that the epilogue seems a little disappointing at first. However, on repeat viewings it actually makes more sense, and wraps up the film nicely.
If you're looking for a sign that Hong Kong movie-making is on the up, and that Francis Ng is one of the most gifted actors of his generation, A War Named Desire is the perfect place to start.





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http://tinypaste.com/1ba1b
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Language: Mandarin
Subtitles: English (Srt)
Cds: 1
File : 1.36 GB, duration: 1:29:06, type: AVI, 1 audio stream
Video : 1.12 GB, 1803 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 704*400 (16:9), XVID
Audio : 244 MB, 384 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 5 channels, AC3, CBR

Many thanks to the person who uploaded the DVD on ADC.

Extreme Prejudice (1987)

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When it comes to macho action movies, Walter Hill is the incontestable master. Extreme Prejudice is one of his most adrenaline-charged and one of the best in the genre. It is famous for the lengthy, bloody final shootout that is excellently executed. Not to mention a stellar ensemble cast (Nick Nolte, Michael Ironside, Powers Boothe, Rip Torn, William Forsythe, Clancy Brown).

Some movies just need to be viewed in widescreen to be fully enjoyed and this is one of them. I wasn't happy with the Fullscreen DVD which is the only version available in North America so I bought a Widescreen DVD on the Internet. One of my best buys yet. My fellow fans can now rejoice, here is Extreme Prejudice in glorious widescreen, brought to you by yours truly.
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Review from Allmovie.com:


Walter Hill's wildly over-the-top Peckinpah-flavored Western often borders on camp, but fans of the genre will enjoy the exaggerated posturing of the leads and the film's carefully stylized violence. Employing the Precambrian-era plot about former friends on different sides of the law who are in love with the same woman, Hill adds nothing new, while painting both the hero and villain as larger-than-life, primed-to-explode kegs of testosterone. For good measure, he also throws in a cadre of CIA contract mercenaries, whose indecipherable mission requires a meticulously executed bank robbery. Is this really where our tax dollars are going?

Nolte, as the stalwart Texas Ranger, transforms his face into solid granite in what may be his least expressive role, while Boothe seems to revel in the hard-boiled epigrams favored by two dimensional villains. The final bloody shootout in the Mexican village, a homage which tries to out-Peckinpah Peckinpah, is skillfully executed, but its length may have some viewers checking their watch. As usual with Hill, the woman's role is negligible, leaving Maria Conchita Alonso little to do, but Rip Torn, as Nolte's Ranger buddy, is the film's most lively character, and one is sorry to see him get the deep six so early.

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http://tinypaste.com/4f126
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Specs:

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Language: English
Subs: German, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, and Portuguese (vobsub)

Ripper: CroakerBC