By: SXSW 2011 — TULLY’S WRAP-UP – Hammer to Nail

SXSW 2011 — TULLY’S WRAP-UP – Hammer to Nail — Thu, 05 May 2011 02:41:16 +0000

[…] to The House of The Devil—particularly if you found that film to be as masterfully executed as yours truly did—but in this case, I was able to check my expectations at the door and appreciate West’s latest […]

By: gcgiles

gcgiles — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:20:00 +0000

I just saw this, and there was one moment that really marked it as a careful study of the ’80s, that made my heart drop a little in recognition: Sam and Megan leave the pizza parlor and after they exit the frame, the camera refocuses on a plastic figure of a jolly, fat, mustachioed pizza chef in the background. How many times growing up in that decade did I watch a scene-ending non sequitur like that! Are we talking about Chekhov’s gun in the first act? Not at all: this is sublimely and simply the plastic pizza chef; you must take it on its own terms and ruminate on its plastic-pizza-chef-ness. You could just as well have seen a potted palm or a stop light through a window or a child holding a toy dinosaur, waiting for his parents to finish ordering at the counter. Sometimes a time of year or a particular place would be marked by this move, like a Salvation Army Santa. But the best of these moments were totally arbitrary.
That opening song had a keyboard sound that was a dead ringer for “Moving in Stereo” by the Cars. In fact, it had a similar rhythmic feel. “Life’s the same, except for my shoes.”
All you say is right and true, Michael. Even casting Jocelin Donahue–equal parts Jessica Harper and Margot Kidder–was nicely done, slightly tomboyish in her plaid shirt tucked into a pair of frumpy-butt blue jeans.
This was no irony project. It wasn’t all about putting orange foam on the earpieces for the Walkman, or placing the copyright date under the title. It was deeper than that, and it gave me the willies much more than the bloodletting.
Another fine review (even if I am more than a year late to it). Thank you. Cheers…

By: Onur Tukel

Onur Tukel — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:44:50 +0000

I’m one of those who doesn’t deserve this movie. Take out the slow middle and add a third act (involving the baby) and then I think you’ve got something fantastic. But an hour and 10 minutes of atmosphere with a rushed bloody climax isn’t enough. Ti West is a talented bastard though…no doubt.

Comments on: HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE

By: SXSW 2011 — TULLY’S WRAP-UP – Hammer to Nail

By: gcgiles

By: Onur Tukel