UNDER THE BED (2012)
This film was all very 80's-family movie at the start and came over like a cross between The Goonies and E.T (hey, that older brother was also the older brother in The Goonies and E.T wasn't he?). But then imagine a film where the young cast of The Goonies get sliced and diced by the ugly pirate at the end or where E.T isn't cute and cuddly but evil and cruel, and eats Elliott instead of asking to help him phone home - this is that movie!
It worked, I felt, as an entry in the domestic stitch-up horror genre. The film had a subversive wisecracking feel. There was some genuine relationship developed between the older brother and the frankly (at times) hilarious kid brother (Gattlin Griffith), who was outstanding in his role. The cast played the film dead straight, which I liked. There were a few cute girls on the scene for the older brother (returning from a period of recovery after a breakdown) but this direction wasn't especially pursued as it would have been in many an 80's horror, I like to think this was another act of deliberate subversion. If it's just hasty plotting, I apologise.
The next door neighbour and his doopy kids were fun. I liked what happened to some of this family at the end of the film. In fact, I cheered the horror on. Out of all the cast, I half-hoped the stepmom would survive, I'm not sure if that's because she walks around the garden braless and seems like she actually cares about the kids, or because she's the only one in the family without 'issues', in fact - she's outrageously normal in a suburban garden of barking. At the end of the movie, she's the one holding the rope for the kids as they try to escape from hell, while the real mother is in ashes in the garage - if that's not subversion of the all-American family, I don't know what is.
The bed itself wasn't especially scary, but the plot, about the monster that lives under the mattress so you have to sleep on top of cupboards and things (but surely after all those years living with a monster in your house, that dumb dad would have spotted something odd going on, I mean,at the dinner table wouldn't you be asking your kid why he looks so traumatised every night?) was suitably creepy and weird, like a bad nightmare after too much Stilton and crackers.
The monster was decent enough but the scenes in the demon's world were wonderfully surreal and full of energy and realisation, as good as the underwater sequences in Argento's Inferno. It looked like these scenes were originally intended for 3D - if they weren't, they should have been.
This was a horror film with a subversive touch - The 'Burbs meets The Beast in the Cellar and Disney's Don't Look Under The Bed (imaginary X-rated version), with some outrageously yucky special effects and squished heads at the end (hey - this was a family-friendly horror movie waiting to stab you in the neck just before the end credits rolled, mid-popcorn and cherry pop finishing off). Most of all, my God - I had fun!
mark gordon palmer
This film was all very 80's-family movie at the start and came over like a cross between The Goonies and E.T (hey, that older brother was also the older brother in The Goonies and E.T wasn't he?). But then imagine a film where the young cast of The Goonies get sliced and diced by the ugly pirate at the end or where E.T isn't cute and cuddly but evil and cruel, and eats Elliott instead of asking to help him phone home - this is that movie!
It worked, I felt, as an entry in the domestic stitch-up horror genre. The film had a subversive wisecracking feel. There was some genuine relationship developed between the older brother and the frankly (at times) hilarious kid brother (Gattlin Griffith), who was outstanding in his role. The cast played the film dead straight, which I liked. There were a few cute girls on the scene for the older brother (returning from a period of recovery after a breakdown) but this direction wasn't especially pursued as it would have been in many an 80's horror, I like to think this was another act of deliberate subversion. If it's just hasty plotting, I apologise.
The next door neighbour and his doopy kids were fun. I liked what happened to some of this family at the end of the film. In fact, I cheered the horror on. Out of all the cast, I half-hoped the stepmom would survive, I'm not sure if that's because she walks around the garden braless and seems like she actually cares about the kids, or because she's the only one in the family without 'issues', in fact - she's outrageously normal in a suburban garden of barking. At the end of the movie, she's the one holding the rope for the kids as they try to escape from hell, while the real mother is in ashes in the garage - if that's not subversion of the all-American family, I don't know what is.
The bed itself wasn't especially scary, but the plot, about the monster that lives under the mattress so you have to sleep on top of cupboards and things (but surely after all those years living with a monster in your house, that dumb dad would have spotted something odd going on, I mean,at the dinner table wouldn't you be asking your kid why he looks so traumatised every night?) was suitably creepy and weird, like a bad nightmare after too much Stilton and crackers.
The monster was decent enough but the scenes in the demon's world were wonderfully surreal and full of energy and realisation, as good as the underwater sequences in Argento's Inferno. It looked like these scenes were originally intended for 3D - if they weren't, they should have been.
This was a horror film with a subversive touch - The 'Burbs meets The Beast in the Cellar and Disney's Don't Look Under The Bed (imaginary X-rated version), with some outrageously yucky special effects and squished heads at the end (hey - this was a family-friendly horror movie waiting to stab you in the neck just before the end credits rolled, mid-popcorn and cherry pop finishing off). Most of all, my God - I had fun!
mark gordon palmer