'Saw III' slices through unanswered questions

"Saw III" is one of the goriest movies ever released in American theatres. I have been watching horror movies since childhood and have recently reviewed gorefests such as "Saw II" and "Hostel" without turning away from the screen in disgust or terror. While watching "Saw III," however, I covered my eyes to block out the intense gore at least twice during the film and spent several suspense-filled moments peeking through my fingers at the shocking imagery.

If you can get past the gore, "Saw III" has a fascinating plot that ties together loose ends from the first two films. Screenwriters Leigh Whannell and James Wan pick up where "Saw II" left off, with John/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) near death and his assistant Amanda (Shawnee Smith) helping him set up his next games. Jigsaw's next game is for Jeff (Angus Macfadyen), who has a burning need for vengeance after losing his son to a car accident because of a drunk driver. Jeff must make it through a house of horrors where his own physical encounters are nothing compared to the psychological torture he faces as he sees the other victims in the house.

While Jeff struggles, so does Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), the depressed doctor Amanda has kidnapped to keep Jigsaw alive until Jeff's tests are completed. Lynn must cope with the increasingly unstable Amanda while trying to keep Jigsaw alive by any means necessary - including brain surgery with power tools.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman does a fantastic job of keeping the audience fascinated despite being disgusted, both by the gore and the blatant moral depravity in much of the subject matter. Rated R for strong grisly violence and gore, sequences of terror and torture, nudity and language, "Saw III" is appropriate only for the strongest of constitutions. During opening weekend, I observed parents bringing their young children (who couldn't have been more than eight years old) into the theatre for this film, which was completely irresponsible and reprehensible. Trust me, the cost of a babysitter for an evening is much less than the cost of therapy years later.

For those who have enjoyed the "Saw" films, "Saw III" will reward your patience with (almost all) the answers you're waiting for by the end of this brilliantly written film. Just remember to skip the concession line on your way in.

Originally published in The Chronicle in November 2006 as Jade Lee Culberson.

Hold a 'grudge' against Grudge 2

Director of the original Japanese version of "The Grudge," as well as this English-language remake, Takashi Shimizu could have done something interesting instead of doing more of the same. We already know that those exposed to the curse of fatally abused wife Kayako (Takako Fuji) are mentally tortured before being killed. "The Grudge 2" just shows us that the curse can travel outside Tokyo - and Japan, for that matter.

Shimizu gives us three vignettes that are intertwined with little cohesion. Sarah Michelle Gellar returns for a brief cameo as Karen Davis, an international college student hospitalized in Tokyo after trying to burn down the house where the curse originated. Karen's ailing mother (Joanna Cassidy) gets the call that her daughter has been in an accident and books a flight for Karen's estranged sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn). In Tokyo, Aubrey meets a journalist named Eason (Edison Chen) seeking answers of his own.

Also in Japan (but apparently nowhere near Aubrey), Allison (Arielle Kebbel) is an international high school student eager to make friends with the cool girls. Unfortunately for Allison (and those around her), she learns just how real the curse is after being dared to enter the cursed house by two classmates.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, where the curse has spread to an apartment building, Trish (Jennifer Beals) has just moved in with her fiancé and his two children. The young, angst-ridden, and overly curious Jake (Matthew Knight) is the first to realize that something is amiss in his neighbors' apartment and is possibly the most likeable character in the film.

Despite the fact that "The Grudge 2" may be the first film to show a possessed teenager drinking mass amounts of milk and purging it back into the half gallon, it provides nothing fascinating or shocking. With so many promising films being released around this Halloween, there is no reason to see "The Grudge 2." Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sexuality, it doesn't matter that "The Grudge 2" is accessible to teens - they won't enjoy it anyway.

"The Grudge 2" lacks creepiness and suspense, supplying instead a plethora of unfulfilling in-your-face money-shot scares. I felt like, at best, the film spent most of its nearly 90 minutes vaguely teasing my mind only to leave me without a satisfying climax or any fond memories.

Originally published in The Chronicle in October 2006 as Jade Lee Culberson

This week's DVD review -- Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave

And the worst DVD release of 2007 is director Ellory Elkayem's "Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave." It may only be April, but it's not too early to say nothing could beat this terrible trifecta of cheesy dialogue, over-the-top stupidity and bad acting to ruin anyone's appetite for film like the fifth installment in the "Return of the Living Dead" series.

The original "Return of the Living Dead" (1985) was deliciously sarcastic, dripping with gore, and crammed full of new, brain-chewing talking zombies. Even "Return of the Living Dead III" (1993) brought us further innovation - a "Romeo and Juliet" style romance between a young man and his recently deceased (and reanimated) girlfriend.

But apparently the series has run out of steam - though, apparently, not zombie-producing Trioxin.

"Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis" (part 4) premiered on the Sci-Fi channel at the same time as "Rave to the Grave" in 2005, and was released to DVD a year earlier. I thought since the films were made so close together, the one failing they would not suffer is continuity - but I was wrong.

"Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave" opens to find Becky (Aimee-Lynn Chadwick), Julian (John Keefe) and Cody (Cory Hardrict) away at college, seemingly oblivious to their near-death (and undeath) experiences the previous year in "Necropolis."

Instead, the only mention of any previous problems are unspecific mentions of government connections to Julian's uncle's recent murder and the mysterious canisters - of (what else could it be but) Trioxin - in his family's attic.

Julian drags the canister into a campus science lab for Cody to analyze in the middle of the night. Instead, Cody uses it to produce "Z" - a party drug that produces hallucinations so powerful that "you just stand there, like a zombie" - for an upcoming Halloween rave.

DJ Jeremy (Cain Manoli) and drug-dealer Skeet (Catalin Paraschiv) begin selling the green capsules around campus, assuring that what Jeremy touts as the "rave to the grave" certainly will be (or, more aptly, the "rave ending in a brain-chewing frenzy").

Whether it was a failed joke or the result of someone letting an elementary school student help with the plot, the worst moment of "Rave to the Grave" was a decayed, Trioxin-dripping zombie attempting to hitchhike in broad daylight and no one noticing (or, at least, reacting) to its presence.

I can think of few fates worse than becoming a brain-craving zombie - having to watch "Rave to the Grave" is one of them.

Originally published in The Chronicle in April 2007 as Jade Lee Culberson

Bye bye to the Buffy I knew

Many of us who obsessively watched "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" mourned the loss of this show after season seven, realizing "Buffy" was truly gone from television forever - less, of course, cold comfort from reruns. We watched (in the last episode) as a school bus drove characters - some familiar and dear, others newer and less connected - away from the large hole where Sunnydale was, and they took with them a little piece of our hearts.

I cried. I mourned the loss of a show I'd watched since high school, feeling a connection with Buffy (the character), who was then my age. I wondered briefly if we'd see a return for season eight - maybe even on a new channel - but realized that I'd never again tune in to see a new episode. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was saddened by this fact.

When I recently learned that Joss Whedon would be bringing us season eight after all - in comic book form - I was excited. I was ready to find out what Buffy, Willow, and Xander were up to. And, of course, I wondered what life after Sunnydale was like for Dawn as she worked through her complicated adolescence. I wanted to know more about the reference near the end of the series "Angel" in which we hear that Buffy is dating The Immortal. I was even curious as to how all those new Slayers were balancing their previous lives with their new Slayer duties.

I made a special trip to Creative Comics in Griffith to pick up the first issue of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," season 8. When I got home, I devoured the issue with high hopes.

When I put the issue down, it was with disappointment. The "Buffy" world, once so small and intimate now feels too vast. The first issue alone dealt with space travel, cloning, and the army. This larger world feels filled more with "clever science" than emotion.

I'll keep reading and hoping the first issue was meant as a catch-up issue - that the intimacy will return and the feeling from the show will come through the pages of upcoming issues.

Originally published in The Chronicle in April 2007 as Jade Lee Culberson

Bad plot, fantastic action in 'Resident Evil'

"Resident Evil: Extinction" - the third in writer Paul W.S. Anderson's series - brings us to a post-apocalyptic world five years after the T-virus escapes into Raccoon City (in 2004's "Resident Evil: Apocalypse").

After the conclusion of the second film, the virus spread throughout the United States and then the world. The oceans and rivers have dried up and the forests have thus turned to deserts. Everything is covered in sand - and moaning, walking undead. There are no animals to be seen - except for (skinless) zombie dogs and a murder of infected crows.

Director Russell Mulcahy (of "Highlander" 1986 fame) gives "Resident Evil: Extinction" a polished look, fantastic action scenes and some stunning suspense. Unfortunately, that's not enough to save the film from some serious plot problems. Alice (Milla Jovovich) has been in self-imposed exile because she realized - somewhere between "Apocalypse" and "Extinction" - the Umbrella Corporation was still able to track her via high-tech computer systems and satellites. She has also developed psionic (basically, telekinetic) powers, in addition to superhuman strength and dexterity that genetic alterations by the Umbrella Corporation have given her.

Despite all the good reasons she was exiling herself she returns to old friends, including Carlos (Oded Fehr), in their new convoy run by Claire (Ali Larter). The movie would be far less interesting if Alice wasn't trying to protect people she cares about while being pursued by the Umbrella Corporation. And pursuing they are, because scientist Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) is trying to find a way to reverse the virus - with hopes of domesticating the shambling herds (and trying to turn them into a "docile workforce"). He's been experimenting with clones of Alice, and their blood, but he needs the real thing - Alice herself - to make any real progress. Unfortunately, he's insane - and to say he'll stop at nothing to provide research results is a vast understatement.

Meanwhile, the diary of a dead man says Alaska is a refuge from the virus, so Claire's group considers trekking across Canada to get there. The movie ends about ten minutes after it should, and we should probably expect "Resident Evil 4" in theatres somewhere around 2009. "Resident Evil: Extinction" is rent-worthy, if nothing else. Sure, some of the plot doesn't make sense but Jovovich is great and there are some creepily suspenseful moments.

Originally published in The Chronicle in September 2007.

"Saw IV" cuts through the mystery

Deliciously creepy, stuffed full of surprises and dripping with intelligence, director Darren Lynn Bousman's "Saw IV" picks up where last year's "Saw III" left off, and does it better. Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is dead. His grisly autopsy is the first, and goriest, scene in the film. But his games don't end when his life does - and this leads officers Rigg (Lyriq Bent), Perez (Athena Karkanis) and Strahm (Scott Patterson, of "Gilmore Girls") to seek answers and attempt to identify his mystery partner.

"Saw" aficionados know how off-base the police are in suspecting Jigsaw's ex-wife, Jill (Betsy Russell), of being his accomplice - but the time Strahm spends questioning her and gives audiences new insights into his murderous motivation. We're also treated to a ringside seat of his first trap, and the knowledge of why his first victim fell into Jigsaw's homicidal hands.

Meanwhile, Rigg is racing against the clock to save Detective Eric Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg), among others. But his test is much more convoluted than most others' - he is asked to step out of his own obsession with saving others and see things through another set of eyes. Sometimes, this means making life or death decisions for people he encounters with very little time to think things through.

Unfortunately, after neatly answering nearly all the series' questions, the newest writers - Project Greenlight winners for "Feast" (2005) Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan -have left the door open for a fifth film. Fortunately, that is the biggest flaw in this film.

The other flaw is the abrupt, nearly strobe-like, crosscutting between images. What worked in small doses in the earlier "Saw" films, film editor Kevin Greutert has overused this time around. But the intricate story is so fascinating, this issue is easily forgiven.

Rated "R" for language as well as grisly, bloody violence and torture throughout, "Saw IV" is less gory than "Saw III" but still no place for children. Instead of parents in peril or vats of hypodermic needles, "Saw IV" has plenty of what made the series worth starting in 2004 - intrigue, suspense and character development.

Originally published in The Chronicle in November 2007.

Sequels, prequels, remakes, oh my!

I have a theory about major movie studios. Here's what I think happens: two filmmakers walk into an executive's office to propose an idea for a film. One says, "I want to make a movie unlike anything American audiences have ever seen. It'll be clever, interesting and cerebral - and it'll focus on a character people will talk about for years to come." The other says, "I want to take this movie that was released two years ago and make a sequel. I've figured out how to make it more violent than the original. The plot may not make as much sense as the first one did, but it'll be shocking. It'll also draw in audiences on name recognition alone." The executive considers both ideas briefly - and green-lights only the latter.

I'll grant that sometimes a sequel - or a series - is a good thing. "Star Wars" is a great example of this. But lately it seems there are as many sequels, prequels and remakes hitting theatres as there are original films. "Resident Evil: Extinction" (the third in the series) is in theatres now, "Saw IV" will reach the big screen on Oct. 26 and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" comes out just in time for the holidays. While I'll save my judgment on the last two until they come out, I can certainly say "Resident Evil: Extinction" was a film that suffered the plot degeneration from the original (and even the sequel).

I'm disturbed to know that though "Shrek the Third" has yet to reach DVD, there's already talk of "Shrek 4" (rumored to be titled "The Next Shrek") slated for release in 2010. Though I haven't heard anything substantial as of yet, I won't be surprised when they announce "28 Months Later" or "Saw V" - I'll just be disappointed.

Still, perhaps the sequels are better than remakes. After Rob Zombie's "Halloween" fell apart before the halfway point, I've lost hope that even the best directors can do better than what is already done well in previous films. And with remakes on the way for "Day of the Dead," "Footloose" (as a musical, apparently) and Hitchcock's "The Birds," I can see this trend isn't going away fast enough.

Originally published in The Chronicle on October 21, 2007