"After Monster's Ball, I really wanted to go in a different direction"
HOLLYWOOD - Halle Berry breezed into the hotel restaurant beaming, her hair long and loose, her pregnant belly barely hidden under a snug black dress, her glamour muted but still compelling enough to hush the ... via The Tennessean
"Saw IV," the latest installment in the annual horror franchise, sliced and diced its competition at the weekend box office in North America, according to preliminary sales estimates issued on Saturday. via WNED.org
 | US $9.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Oct-28-2007 19:29:06 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $18.00 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $9.95 (1 Bid) End Date: Sunday Oct-28-2007 18:45:17 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
"Yes, yes. Everyone knows! I told everyone I know that I was coming! Totally."
THE natives pushed back as hard as they could, but slowly, terrifyingly, the huge door started to open. via New York Times
With repulsion levels at least comparable to Cannibal Holocaust, Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Feast, and other gory slasher landmarks, Eli Roth's Hostel 2 reconfigures ideas of violence to test how down and dirty a horror film can get. The film raises the stakes, leaving those who wish to make a sicker film out in the lurch for the time being. This sequel, like the first Hostel, is set in and around a Slovakian factory where European students are kidnapped, tortured, and killed by rich businessmen who pay enormous sums to experience death firsthand. An international elite, all tattooed with a bulldog insignia, bid on young people to slaughter in a mob-organized, high-end, sex-slave trade catering to those with a death fetish. In Hostel 2, three girls from Rome, Beth (Laura German), Whitney (Bijou Phillips), and Lorna (Heather Matarazzo), are lured to Slovakia by a sultry, vampiric hottie (Vera Jordonova) who modeled for them in figure drawing class. Sidetracked and disoriented by some Pagan Slovakian festivals and luxurious hot springs, the girls slip away one by one, until the film moves inside the torture chambers. One client sits in a bathtub beneath her victim, who she slices with a scythe to bathe in blood, Elizabeth Bathory-style. Body parts fly as clients entering the facilities select their weapons of choice in a room full of knives, power tools, and rubber clothing. As ridiculous as it sounds, haunting soundtrack and cinematography set a disturbing mood. Morbid humor, for example when a chainsaw unplugs centimeters from a victim's face, pays homage to Hostel 2's schlocky predecessors. Fortunately, one survivor remains, providing an ounce of vengeful, and sexy, satisfaction. As in the best exploitation films, gratuitous sex and violence are the norm here. What will be a warning to some to avoid this gruesome movie will be to others a cue to head straight to the theater. --Trinie Dalton"We have a really good idea where it's going"
What's in a name? In the world of film gore, it's the difference between a thriller and a horror film. via London Free Press
'Saw IV' zero stars The original 'Saw' opened rather anonymously in 2004 and became an unexpected box-office juggernaut, thanks to the writing/directing team of Leigh Whannel and James Wan's original story, graphic violence and edgy feel. Success breeds sequels, and three iterations later, Lionsgate brings us 'Saw IV,' a film as edgy as a rubber knife. 'Saw IV' finds SWAT Commander Rigg (Lyriq Bent) as the most recent puppet of posthumous villain Jigsaw (Tobin Bell). Delivering his message from the autopsy table, Jigsaw forces Rigg through a number of tough decisions to save his wife and himself. Since the original 'Saw,' cancer patient Jigsaw has tortured his victims to teach them to enjoy life and let go of the vices that cloud their happiness, and as Rigg's story unfolds, so does the explanation of how Jigsaw continues to pull these strings despite his 'Saw III' demise. Director Darren Lynn Bousman has been at the helm of the franchise since 'Saw II,' and his attention here focuses solely on moving the story along, leaving no room for notable performances or for the characters to reason or surprise us with their next move. FBI Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson, much better as Luke in 'Gilmore Girls') walks in and inexplicably dissects every crime scene, and Rigg's trailing of clues is as predictable as a golf course you've played a hundred times. If the terrible craft of Bousman's film doesn't turn your stomach, the borderline pornographic violence will. It's disconcerting to imagine anyone enjoying the vile filth splashing the screen. If you like your films disgusting, deplorable and demoralizing rather than smart, scary and suspenseful, go ahead and feed the coffers of 'Saw IV's' makers. If you don't, please don't give the studio a reason to make 'Saw V.' Please. Read more
"Who says you can't take it with you"
Dead does not necessarily mean done when it comes to torturing serial killer Jigsaw in the horror thriller "Saw IV." Darren Lynn Bousman, in the "Saw" director's seat for the third time, serves up a ... via MySanAntonio.com
