State of Emergency (2011)

Directed by: Turner Clay


Writer: Turner Clay

People turning into bloodthirsty monsters because of a toxin of some kind? A small group of isolated survivors fights to stay alive? Count me in! When done right (such as here), this type of movies always brings joy to my heart.

First of all, a small technical matter: I think correct terminology is very important, so it always pisses me off when people talk about 28 Days Later or [REC] or some similar movie and call the creatures that appear there zombies. Those are NOT zombies! Zombies are living dead. Those are not dead, they are just infected and very angry. Basically, you have zombies (which themselves can be divided into two groups - Romero style zombies and fast running zombies, like in the Dawn of the Dead remake) and creatures like in 28 Days Later, which we will call infected. State of Emergency deals with this latter group.

The setting is rather minimalistic, both character-wise and location-wise. There are only four principal characters and two locations. Our lead hero is Jim, a guy who has just lost his fiancee while they were on the run from the chaos. He barricades himself in a barn, where he spends his time in sorrow and anxiety until he receives a call from a nearby warehouse. He goes there and meets another three survivors - Scott, his wife Julie, and a mysterious newcomer Ix, who refuses to talk to anyone (that's a girl, by the way).

Two most important things here are the following: 1) For an infection movie, this one has a rather small body count. Surprisingly small, in fact. Actually, it's so small that the fact they managed to get away with it is a small miracle. Turner Clay has concentrated more on the lead characters and their relationships and while that normally makes me puke, he succeeds against all odds because the characters are likeable, they don't spend every damn second fighting about some stupid crap (like in most low-budget films) and the actors did a very good job, all of them. Of course, the writing isn't always top notch, with lines like

"I lost my only friend."

"Maybe we can be friends."

I mean come on! REALLY???

Fortunately, this is probably the only moment that made me cringe, other than that the dialogues are OK.

2) This movie is much better directed than your run-of-the-mill zombie/infected film. So much better, in fact, that I'm eagerly awaiting Turner Clay's next movie about apocalypse. Instead of violence, he builds a nice atmosphere of isolation and hopelessness, which of course wouldn't have been worth crap if the characters weren't so believable. There are also some great scenes that would've made any great horror director proud. For example, check out the 15 minute mark, when Jim finds out that he had forgotten to lock the barn - suddenly his safe place becomes potentionally lethal. Suspense at its finest.

The ending leaves a lot of room for improvement, but despite that this is highly recommended for anyone who likes low budget horror films, especially of this type.

Black Rock (2012)

Directed by: Katie Aselton

Writers: Mark Duplass (screenplay), Katie Aselton (story)

Oh, well, here's one that's not so bad, but you won't really miss much if you skip it. It's all been done before, and it's been done better.

 

The story is as simple as they get - three girls (two of which can't stand each other because one of them screwed the other's boyfriend a few years earlier) go to some deserted island to have some fun (not that kind of fun, you sick bastard!) and perhaps rekindle some childhood memories, I don't really know. Don't blame me, I watched this from my laptop and the sound was crappy and I could hardly understand a word they were saying.

 

Not that it all matters much - what's more important is that three guys unexpectedly appear and you pretty much know what will happen. One of the girls (played by the director herself) gets drunk and starts seducing one of the guys, but when they get to a solitary place in the woods, she changes her mind and the guy is understandably less than happy, so he, as any real man would do, starts to force his way in. Abby (that's the name of the girl) is understandably less than happy about this turn of events, so she, as any real woman would do, hits him in the head with a large rock, causing him to abandon this cruel world rather prematurely (well, that's the word his mother would probably use, on the other hand most people wouldn't feel his death was a terrible blow to society).

 

When his two friends find out about this, they are understandably less than happy, and they, as all real friends would do, go for a revenge (meaning: the killing of all three girls). Our heroines are understandably less than happy about this and a desperate fight for survival ensues.

 

While the movie was generally well directed (I will leave out an obvious sexist joke here), especially when it comes to the treatment of the actual violence, which had an impact, but wasn't overly graphic, there were some problems that marred its potential. First of all, for the most part, the tension is ruined by the bad treatment of the villains. The main one doesn't look terribly smart, but at the same time he's horribly over the top, while his sidekick is too tame. So, the paradox is, even though some rather bad things happen to the girls, we never feel the bad guys are really much of a threat. Katie and her writing partner Mark Duplass should have drawn much more influence from classics like The Hills Have Eyes and Deliverance.

 

The screenplay has its ups and downs, but to explain it in detail would mean to spoil most of the movie. Generally, I think the whole cheating story should have been left out (after all, the viewers don't need to know the real reasons of the animosity between the girls) and some dialogs could have been improved. There are also some really stupid decisions by the characters, the most problematic of which is the attempt to reach a boat by swimming through the cold water. But, on the other hand, I'm thankful for this, since it leads to a totally unexpected scene, which we will call the freezing scene. This is my favourite part of the movie, for all the wrong reasons, hehehee. Anyway, I would also prefer a higher body count, but that's just nitpicking really.

 

Overall, a solid fight-for-survival (TM) story, not exactly The Hills Have Eyes, but certainly worth a look. Especially the freezing scene :-)