Thriller
Rod Lott
Think about a really funny joke you were told. Would you like it as much if the setup were thrice as long as the punch line required?
Monday 20 May
OKG Newsletter
Topic: devil
Wrecked
I can haz Predators?
The Barrens
Something in Jersey is more demonic than Snooki.
Horror
Rod Lott
In a post-Saw world, Darren Lynn Bousman quietly has been making a series of horror films more in line with scary movies of the 1970s than the torture-porn genre he helped usher in. Already this year, DVD has brought us his superlative Mother's Day remake and the low-key demonic pic 11-11-11, and now The Barrens. It's just too bad they've all been denied wide theatrical releases.
Back from Hell
'Hell' is hell.
Horror
Rod Lott
This being the Halloween season, odds are many a found-footage film will be watched over the next several weeks. How to choose between so many? Allow me to help ever so slightly: Steer clear of Back from Hell.
Doomsday Book
The end of the world is two-thirds terrific.
Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
Not based on Connie Willis' seminal sci-fi novel of the same name, Doomsday Book is preoccupied not with time travel, but the world's end. Telling three separate stories, the Korean film comes from acclaimed directors Kim Jee-woon (I Saw the Devil) and Yim Pil-sung (Hansel & Gretel). As with all anthologies, results vary; ultimately, this one ends up as two-thirds great.
On the Fritz
Ever the unconventional cowboy, alt-country’s Jonny Fritz can’t seem to escape his outlaw image, even with orthopedic shoes.
