Maniac - Will's Review

So a slasher this week - Yay! I do love me a slasher!

A very atypical one though; Maniac avoids the conventions of following a group of potential victims (a la FT13th, Elm Street) or even one stand out victim (a la Halloween), instead we follow the killer; but even for that, this isn't a "hero killer" movie, not do we understand his motives (beyond "he's crazy") for quite a while.

On the subject of his crazy, the insanity is brilliantly written and acted - this is no hammed up 'conversations with himself' insanity; this is real non-linear crazy.

As he nails each of his latest victims' scalp to a mannequin (which is his MO) he does have a habit if conversing with himself, but he switches sides of the conversation rapidly; there is no 'call and return' preformed by two distinct personalities, just a jumble of thoughts that bleed into one another. At times these little monologues genuinely unnerving, not because if any particular content, but because you could easily believe them as the ramblings of a madman.

I also found the level of remorse interesting; at times he would seem genuinely sorry for his killings, even while performing them.

It's a shame then, that the story is so straight forward, and the killings so bland; well executed (by FX maestro Tom Savinni) but dull. The only real stand-out death being when Savinni himself (appearing simply because he already cad a cast of his own head) is shot in the head, causing his head to explode in a spectacularly over the top fashion.

There are some nice quasi-supernatural parts near the end, but they aren't enough to rescue the movie.

Despite a great performance from the lead, I found the whole affaire to be a little slow; I can see why this one has been re-made.

I enjoyed it well enough, but can't recommend it due to the pace.

Salo - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

I'm at a bit of a loss this week as to how exactly to review this movie as I have no want to give a blow-by-blow account of it, thats for sure.  The fact I am feeling more than a little ill today also would make me want to avoid even thinking about it, never mind reviewing it.

So, what can I say.  Having read a bit about the movie, it seems that the absolute and utter depravity we see on screen from start to finish is in actual fact a very political message about facism, with the 4 main characters (a bishop, a president, a duke and a magistrate) representing different sections of our society.  The bishop - religion, the president - political leaders, the magistrate - the legal system and the duke - nobility.  Well that was all very much lost on me I'm afraid.  To me it just appeared to be an excuse to be shocking, to show as much depravity as possible and get away with it under the usual screen of proclaiming it as 'art' with an important message.  Bollocks!  It truely felt to me, like a few people sat in a room and wrote a list of what they could get away with depicting onscreen.