Movie Review: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark/Red State

Has it been so long? Have I really not written? That says something-oh, yeah, school started. And, as such, focus has been directed elsewhere.

Like lesson plans and my upcoming novel. I need to get that puppy done so I can start a new one with National Novel Writing Month.

And I have to do lesson plans before, well, everything.

That being the case, I have been still been on the case. I needed something, a spark, a fire to get me to write here again. I've been watching movies, to be sure, but, really, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was...not worthy of a full review.

Outside of seeing that Katie Holmes got a job outside of her psycho husband, there was nothing to report. Sure, yes, I saw the original television movie as a kid and it scared the living crap out of me. Part of me migth have been  the fact that I was a kid, but the details I remembered were pretty potent. Scared lady, small door in the new house, strange noises from behind said door. Good stuff. The fact is, the house this family lives in is TOO LARGE. It would never, ever, ever been built.

So don't waste your Netflix queue.  If that's the only thing I remember from this movie, that's saying volumes.

Red State, however, you might want visit. Written and directed by auteur Kevin Smith, I've followed his career very closely.  I was there and fell in love with his sense of humor, his creativity, and his ability to make dialogue that was witty and profound at the same time. I noticed a trend in his filmmaking, as he grew as a storyteller between film to film. His own daughter's plight shined in the much aligned Jersey Girl, but I could see what he was trying to do.

He was maturing (I think the film is highly underrated and it's shame).  You can see him work with someone else's script with the terrible Cop Out. I watched him even act, wonderfully so, in the cute Catch and Release.  You can see the artist in him grow and try different approaches and concepts and grow. You can even hear him narrate it on his SMODradio and various podcasts. He even ventured into television with the successful Comic Book Men (which, after a strong start, didn't do much else and started dying).

So it would come to pass that he would arrive at trying a different genre. This is not out of the ordinary, given today's slate of directors and the ability to be exposed to a variety of media to process.  Look at Ron Howard. Actioners. Dramas. Comedies. Many are hits-more are misses. But each is unique and I like them all. Same with Rob Reiner. A very, very funny man, it shined through his creation of When Harry Met Sally; and then there was his uber horror, Misery.  However, as a review and proponent of auteur theory, you have to find what makes the films the same to see what the strengths are.

Let me give you a terrific and very evident example. Alfred Hitchcock made only one movie. Again, his tales involved a loss of identify, humanity being small and impotent against the world around them (protagonists seen against huge monuments; reoccuring themes of mistaken identify), and, given some of his movies were true horror, some were pure comedy, some were actioners.

If I look at Rob Reiner, I see the same thing.  Strong women who men learn to understand. Toxic relationships that take forever to resolve. Characters not understanding their immediate surroundings. You see that in all of his movies.

Kevin does it too. His so-called slackers as they appear, aren't lazy at all. They are smart, but caught up in an unbending system.  Dogma's characters have to run through a prophecy.  Clerks? They're all smart but cannot seem to get out of the rut their in. The conflicts tend to be hilarious, but there's a serious undertone with their undertakings.

Then there's this movie.

I cannot tell if I have pause because he isn't following his own rules or if, basically, he abandoned them.  He has protagonists who have made bad hygiene choices and are throughly unlikeable. Their destruction isn't heartfelt, much like the deaths in such torture porn of Saw and Hostel.  Bodies pile up in the corners of the film, but, by the fifth death, I'm not scared, nor do I feel I have any vested interest in doing so.

Is this disgust born out of his not following his own artwork? Maybe, possibly. But he didn't have to. Look at the movie Match Point by Woody Allen. His movies tend to be about the same interactions, slight, realistic comedies with soft edges. Then he made a drama about murder. It worked. Eeriely so. Smith could have left the comedy out and still had a strong picture.

The pacing is quick, and taht's good, but, again, everytime someone shows up on screen, they seem to be more target practice.

Where the films works? Because of his fame, he picked top talent. Michael Parks is something akimbo to Hannibal Lector.  Melissa Leo plays his wife-and gives a character where there is a few lines. He can tell as story and, well, being able to write it as well helps.

Also? There's a potent themetic element here. Saw? Hostel? Dead teeenagers make no statements.  But Kevin's intelligence on what makes headlines is profoundly evident. There are shades of the Branch Davidians and every other gun spouting church.  This is topical in the horror department and a profound statement.

However, again, the pendulum swings back-and he pulls a deus machina.  Have you ever seen Psycho? Movie starts strong, but then, for some reason, has a cop stand there and talk to us in the audience explaining everything-without using the camera to tell the rest of the story. Odd and a huge critique of the famed movie. Mr. Smith does the same thing here.  It was too clean and there was a huge chunk of the movie that was avoided for some reason.

It was...weird.

And massively abrupt.

So? This movie plays to the middle of the road. You'll have to go and watch and tell me what you think. For me? I think Tusk might be slightly better... as a dark comedy.

Peace....