horror

Constantine (2005)

a blood colored movie reel

Recently I saw an image of Keanu Reeves holding a dark gray cat with unnaturally long canine teeth. I went looking for the photograph online and found a video of the cat scene from the movie Constantine. Having collected Keanu movies in the past, I was intrigued.

The movie starts with three dramatic, seemingly unrelated, events. A man in Mexico finds an powerful spear (knife) that gave him supernatural powers. He walks in front of a speeding car and the car is destroyed and he walks away. John Constantine, Reeves’ character, arrives when a demon-possessed woman has flied up to the ceiling of the room. Constantine knows what to do and gets the demon dispatched with an intense performance. Finally, a woman in a hospital walks to the edge of the building and jumps, falling through a glass roof into a large swimming pool. All three events launch the movie with anxious urgency. That woman and her twin sister are played by Rachel Weisz.

The movie has a lot of demonology cliches like holy water burning demons and protective amulets. The people who are allies of the demons are half-breeds that are daunting antagonists and are able to survive extreme violence. Massed insects and a cross-shaped gold gun also show up. Although there is a divine rule that the demons and angels can’t enter this world directly, that rule is fraying and is at risk of annulment, hence the need for John Constantine intervention.

The visuals of Hell are striking. The demons in Hell have strange heads. One feature of Hell is the blistering hot wind and apocalyptic remnants of cars and buildings. The opening credits show the Hell environment as its wind erodes the production studios’ logos. Constantine travels to Hell with the aid of that cat and a pan of water.

The knife seems important since it is mentioned in the opening titles and the knife bearer is followed on his trip to LA. The purpose of trip is to construct a deadline for the urgent activities of Constantine. Once he brings the MacGuffin to its destination, he is unneeded and vanishes.

As a horror film, it was ok. Constantine was so confident in his abilities that I had little doubt of his success. Despite fighting terminal lung cancer, cigarettes come with him everywhere. His addiction is revealed when he sets one aside at the first exorcism and picks it up once he is done with his duties there. His cancer and impending death is the cause for Constantine’s desperate search for redemption.

It isn’t a great movie. Perhaps if I was more versed in the horror genre, I would appreciate it more. I looked at The Numbers and the movie was financially successful, with a worldwide box office of $221 million on a budget of $75 million. I think I’m committed now to watching more horror movies to find the ones with the best cats.

Review: The Dark Tower (2017)

A movie reel
In the center of the universe stands a dark tower that protects the universe from chaos and destruction. Although we see the tower only briefly, the film The Dark Tower from 2017 shows repeated attacks that threaten the worlds that it protects. Earthquakes and mysterious lights in the sky are becoming more frequent in New York and other cities.

The Man in Black is orchestrating these attacks, trying to use the minds of children which he believes could destroy the tower and unleash devastation and death. The movie begins with a horror sequence showing an attack. We see the tower assaulted by an energy beam, but the tower is sturdy. Jake is woken from a troubled dream by the ensuing earthquake.

The characters of the movie, the Man in Black, played by Matthew McConaughey, the Gunslinger, played by Idris Elba, and Jake, played by Tom Taylor, battle over the tower. To connect the different sites of the story, door-like portals allow travel between worlds.

When the movie opens, children are in a playground until a klaxon sounds and alarms on a few children’s wrists activate. The kids walk robot-like into a dark building with a conical roof. Soon, the reason for their alarm becomes clear.

As the movie progresses, the Gunslinger’s prowess with a six-shooter becomes more and more amazing. For his part, the Man in Black can control other people with a whisper. For example, he can tell someone to stop breathing or probe their memories to help find Jake. Early in the film, Jake escapes from the Man in Black’s agents who are identified by a seam in the fake skin covering their face.

The movie struggles to balance the horror genre, westerns and fantasy. The three aspects dance around each other, starting the movie in horror and ending with a fantasy western style. As the story unfolds, we see more and more of the Man in Black’s powerful skills. The Gunslinger is empowered by the Gunslinger’s Creed that forms the foundation of his talents. As the film progresses, Jake discovers his own power, his shine.

At his mother and stepfather’s home, Jake is tormented by vivid dreams. He has been compulsively drawing scenes from the dreams because they are too real to be a dream. His family blames the visions and psychological distress from the death of Jake’s father. However, when Jake meets the Gunslinger, he learns that his dreams have been real.

Sometimes when I see a movie trailer, I’m not interested in learning more. This movie is an exception to that pattern. In the trailer, I saw a scene of an attack on the tower. I was hoping for more appearances of the tower, but those scenes are precious and kept brief and infrequent. Perhaps the attacks on the tower would seem repetitive and lose their horror if they were over-done.

As a film, The Dark Tower is successful and meeting its promise of a battle between good and evil. Evil seems to have the upper hand throughout the movie because of the Man in Black’s extraordinary skills. He can catch bullets and kill people with a phrase. The Gunslinger is tentative in his abilities, but Jake inspires him to continue fighting.