welchykaty Reviews

200 Degrees (2017)

Too distracted by sexist hypocrisy to really watch

[3/10 · 11 October 2017]

All I can say is that if the protagonist had been female, she would have almost immediately been stripped down to her underwear. This guy removes his jacket at the start and then remains fully clothed (socks and shoes included) all the way through. I can't get over the blatant double standards here - and before anyone thinks I'm being overly sensitive, we actually (completely unnecessarily) see tits! Incredible. The guy is in insane heat, gets soaked so is not only absolutely boiling but humid, and keeps all his clothes on. Then we see boobs because...? The woman could have had a bra on and we still would have known she was a prostitute.

I'm so incensed by this aspect of the film alone that I was too distracted by my ire to concentrate properly. Relatively interesting concept ruined by unabashed hypocrisy. Points for the setting as I really hate the heat so it did make me go "oooooooo" quite a few times (of course followed by "what kind of absolute cretin wouldn't take some of those clothes off? Oh yes, one who's not being objectified").

Inconceivable (2017)

Truly inconceivable

[5/10 · 8 October 2017]

The most inconceivable thing about this film is somebody having such an incredibly flat stomach and being so mobile right after having a C-section. In all seriousness, this absurdity is something that needs to be addressed in the film industry but there we go...

Otherwise, the story is interesting enough, relatively slow-paced (running time needn't have been so long - not that it was long, but it was too long for what this film is). There were unnecessary sub-plots.

Acting was OK, Nicky Whelan is used to doing over-the-top dramatic plots from her time on Neighbours, so did perfectly well here. Why have an A-lister like NC involved? Why not, I suppose.

All in all, it was pretty meh. Another user likened it to a Lifetime movie and they hit the nail on the head. Lifetime movies are an occasional guilty pleasure of mine, so I finished the film more or less satiated. Just don't see Nick Cage's name and think you're getting a blockbuster.

The Devil's Rejects (2005)

Not complete rejects

[7/10 · 28 February 2006]

A quick foreword: this is not a particularly intellectual review/comment thing, so if you don't want brain strain, go ahead! All I can say is.... I liked her. I really, really did. She wasn't the kind of charming serial killer that Hannibal Lecter is, but she's just so twisted and amusing that you can't help but love her. It's not often that you find a woman quite this evil. There have been a few in real life, like Myra Mindley, but she was ugly. This girl is gorgeous, one that every guy wants. She's so damn irresistible that you can't help but take her up on her offer to erm... "entertain" you, despite the fact that you're really ugly and old so there's quite clearly something not quite right about the whole thing. Ah, the foolish man. Didn't you watch Fatal Attraction? If you're going to cheat on your wife, at least make sure the mistress isn't psycho. Anyway, that's her dealt with. The brother is such a goddam hick, it makes my skin crawl. He reminds me a little of Henry's (portrait of a serial killer) friend, who also happens to be called Otis. He's the sort of generic deranged serial killer you might expect in this sort of film. I liked the touch of him cutting off the guy's face and making his wife wear it. Nasty. The second creepiest character is the big fat clown. Although the his first scene (the dream) almost turned me on (haha) he was really just revolting. Those teeth... *shudders* and I don't like clowns at the best of times. That's all I really have to say about him. Definitely the creepiest character was the mother. Trying to be sexy is hard when you're a freak (just look at Paris Hilton - zing) and she really didn't pull the smouldering thing off. She was a fantastic character, though, and extremely well acted. I don't really have much to say about the others, (the police officer, the massacred family, the pimp etc) except that they were nothing special, but also nothing awful. Now for the juicy bits. I thought the whole concept was brilliant, the characters were brilliant, and the direction was brilliant. I loved the effects, however, I would have liked to have seen more of their history. I said this about FearDotCom too, but I feel that a film always benefits from a little bit of history. We saw newspaper cuttings etc, but the whole content of the film was to do with their escape and final obliteration. Call me sadistic, but I'd have liked to have seen some victims. Aside from that, everything was fabulous. I loved the ending, the way that they fearlessly stormed the police officers, with absolutely no remorse. I kind of wanted them to come out alive, but that would have been totally unrealistic and I would have bitched about it. All in all, a great film, but it hasn't made it to my top 10.

Feardotcom (2002)

Fear dot com = Fear dot crap

[3/10 · 27 February 2006]

Honestly speaking, I'm a film lover, but I hate to over-analyse things. I'm one of these people that doesn't sit through a film trying to guess the ending, even if it IS incredibly predictable (Sixth Sense) as I much prefer to sit back and be entertained. I'm also one of these people that hates to pick anything apart, be they films, pieces of music or books, but I felt with this film certain things that normally wouldn't bother me were just SO wrong that I needed to point them out. For example, there is bugger all character development throughout the entire film. Characters which could have been elaborated upon weren't even seen again, including the charmingly offensive police partner, who ends up displayed like the officer in Silence of the Lambs, only not as scarily and not as effectively. Also, I felt that the history between the main 'hero' and the villain was really not established, and the reasoning behind his psychotic tendencies was not fully explored (for example, did he have a troubled childhood?). The whole supernatural aspect of this film was totally unnecessary and just generally awful. Why, for example, did they die 48 hours later and what the hell was with their strange illness? The whole film had an aura of "The Ring", when personally I feel that it would have benefited from having more of a "Saw" atmosphere, concentrating more on the actual killer and less on the ridiculous supernatural storyline. Was there anything good about this film? The answer is yes, or I wouldn't have awarded it any marks (well, maybe one for managing to film it etc). However, there isn't a whole lot I can say. There was some impressive and disturbing, and also some implied images which certainly made me uncomfortable. The acting wasn't completely wooden, in fact, it was pretty good. Good enough to stop you from laughing at the dreadful links between characters (why the creepy little girl version of his first victim? Nothing happened to her as a child, why did they need to use this image? Was it to try and freak people out because they don't like seeing weird little girls?). Bits of the original concept were also good, but completely ruined by the overall production of the film. Now for the awful stuff. Somebody switch the light on, please! For God's sake, a film doesn't have to be pitch black to be dingy and morbid. I hate it in films when people don't switch the lights on, it's just unrealistic. How many of you come home from a night out and decide "Hmmmm.... I'd rather sit here in darkness than switch the light on." ? Not many, I'd wager. I was squinting through most of the film, which really grinds my gears. The most gob-smackingly terrible thing about this entire film was the horrifically anti-climactic ending. Firstly, their "back-up" is one, count them, ONE police officer, who subsequently proves to be completely and utterly useless because he arrives before them (how?) and gets himself killed. Now, this bad guy is so twisted, you really want to see him have a horrible death. Even before he gets his comeuppance he manages to kill our beloved male lead, Mike, so surely something really bad is going to happen to him? Maybe he gets tortured to death, like his victims? Maybe he spends eternal damnation in hell? No. In fact, the ghost of the little girl/woman that he first killed comes out of the computer at him, and kills him inside his brain... I THINK. It's very unclear and just bloody awful. In short, not worth spending £7.99 on, that's my lesson learned.