crazypierre Reviews

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Excellent homage to Oriental cinema

[10/10 · 12 November 2003]

*SPOILERS*

I had never seen a Tarantino movie before this one. A friend of mine got the gang of us to go see it on impulse...it got me from the opening scenes of the bride battered but still alive, to the soccer-mom revenge duel, to the breathtaking and incredible fight in The House of Blue Leaves...which I have spliced on my PC, because it's UBBELIEVABLE.

That being said, some of the movie was very hard to watch, I speak chiefly of the manga sequence, where half of my friends almost left the theatre. I urged them to sit through it, and when they did, they saw the best swordfight ever.

The homages to Oriental cinema are thousandfold...The Bride wears Bruce Lee's jumpsuit from Game of Death, Go Go Yubari (the acress that portrays her) was in Battle Royale, Sonny Chiba needs no introduction, and neither does Lucy Liu.

The movie is style, style, style, from the arrival to Tokyo, to the conversation with Hattori Hanzo, to the acrobatic and relentless carnage of the House of Blue Leaves, to The Bride's duel with O-Ren Ishii.

Even the minor actors had their own (sometimes smarmy) style. Darryl Hannah as Elle Driver was coldly psychotic, and David Carradine was convincing as Bill.

Simply put, to those who complain there is no plot, the plot is one word:

REVENGE.

The Bride wants it for what happened to her, her husband, her child, her friends at the wedding, and she exacts it in spades. The swordfight sequence in the House of Blue Leaves simply eclipses ANY action sequence in recent memory.

The movie is pure gold. Grab some while you can.

10/10

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Scariest movie I've seen in a long time.

[10/10 · 27 October 2003]

I decided to get this movie for my annual Hallowe'en scarefest, a week early...as the new one was out in theatres, I felt a need to see the original first, and bow am I glad I did...

The whole movie just blew me away, I turned off all the phones, chat programs and so on, and just let the story hit me. I think what is still with me after this is the sense of fear and utter WEIRDNESS that emanates from the movie...

And it all seemed so realistic...no hokey fountains of blood, no running into the shower, or overused cliches, just a bunch of kids that need to get some gas, meet some very odd characters (The Hitchhiker is superb) and then fall into the wrong place at the wrong time...

I think Hooper must have had some divine inspiration, because each of Leatherface's scenes is exquisitely planned and executed, from the first guy who gets dragged down, to Pam, to the encounter with Franklin and Sally in the woods (how chilling and scary was that, and yet how clever, to chase someone in the woods equipped with...a chainsaw) to the end.

Very, very unsettling as well, from the beginning to the final dinner scene, to the unforgettable whirling dance by Leatherface at the end.

Simply put, the best horror movie ever...if this doesn't scare you, then nothing will, sadly.