Old mad scientist had a farm, e-i-e-i-o;
and on that farm he had some cow-snake-xenomorph-monsters, e-i-e-i-o;
With a hiss, hiss, here,
and an "Oh shit it's got my leg!" there...
This is one really screwed up movie. And it also answers that age old
question, "What could possibly go wrong when playing around with the genetic code of farm animals?"
Very creepy. A lot of fun. There were plenty of uncomfortable
scenes (many of which are just scenes from basic life on a livestock farm, to be honest) that
kind of made my skin crawl, but it was impossible to tear my eyes away. And despite the fact that this is
all taking place on an isolated (hence the title) farm out in the middle of nowhere, you can't help
but get the feeling that, yep, now we're all just totally screwed. And not in a 28 Days Later
"well, if we can just wait it out until the zombies die of starvation and we don't get infected" kind of screwed.
I mean a, "once you let the genie out of the bottle, there's no friggin' way he's gonna get back in it" kind of screwed.
This is one of those crazy dystopic cautionary tales that makes you stop and think that, yeah, as
ridiculous as it all was... couldn't that actually happen?
The writer/director of this movie did a fantastic job with this film. It was well paced,
atmospheric (despite taking place on a farm), and frankly, actually scary. Props to a film maker that understands
that if you never show us the monster, we won't believe you; but if you show us the whole thing, warts and all, it
will never live up to our expectations. In this movie, you'll see the monster, but only enough to let your
imagination fill in the very worst bits of it. Very well played. That is a difficult balance to acheive, but
this film did it very well. I think a LOT of monster movie film makers could learn a thing or two with this
one. Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Craven; yeah, I'm talking to you two, too.
If you like horror movies, I think you'll like this one. And if you're an activist looking
for another reason to ban genetic experimentation, have some more fodder for your cannon...
One Movie to Skip: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
I couldn't have come up with a more apropos title for this one
if I tried... it truly was a movie to be endured rather than enjoyed -- it was
mostly unbearable. I mean, the acting was great (Daniel Day-Lewis,
Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin are all great - no doubt), and I'm sure the novel it
is based upon is just as fantastic as the critics say that it is, but man
was this a loooong movie. At nearly three hours, you have to set aside a
fair amount of your sanity in order to make it all the way through. I can
pretty much sum up the action of this movie in one sentence: a serial
philanderer and the stupid woman who loves him try to make their relationship
work in the middle of the cold war. Aaand that's about it. If you
don't think that sounds interesting, then you probably won't like it.
As an emotional exploration of complicated relationships, sure,
it's probably worth your time. And there is artistic merit to the film as
well. But beyond that, I just couldn't' get into it. I'm sure there
is plenty I could have taken from the story... There is a running
conflict between the characters where the only time they seem to be happy is
when they run away from their current lives and do something new and exciting,
and yet there is always an oppressive weight that settles upon them when they
slip back into the same routines that make them unhappy. It is an
emotional philosophical struggle between what life could be if we live
our lives one day at a time versus the anxiety and unhappiness in the cyclical
traps we create for ourselves. On that level, yeah, it's interesting.
There is a lot of depth to the film. But on the other hand... it would
have been nice to get to these points (1) a little quicker, and (2) without
boring the hell out of me. This film won't be for everyone, and today, it
wasn't for me either.
