12 July 2008

'Darkness' - The Vampire Edition review

Before seeing the DVD in the store, I don't recall having heard of 'Darkness' before. I'm sure I must have read about it in some passing article at some point as the movie is from 1992 and I read a LOT about 'fantastic' films, but no information about it flared in my memory. That the case identified it as a 'cult classic' and that it had been restored for this release became enough for me to become curious.

Not so curious that I'd watch it immediately mind. I reviewed some of the extra features, saw how the restoration had improved the visuals and waited for the moment when I could watch it without interruption. As it turned out, that was a couple days ago.

It's small town America. A vampire kills our hero's family, altering them into vampires. The morning's sunlight ends their unholy existence. With nothing left to him, he begins hunting the creature, looking for revenge. A group of young people return to their town after a concert to find much of the town has been turned, most of their families included. Our hero tries to help them survive to daybreak.

It's an interesting movie and even now, a couple days later. I'm not complete sure if I enjoyed it or not. Some of the movie is let down by the do-it-yourself nature of its making as many of the night time scenes are very dark, some of the acting can be awkward (moreso in the 'normal' scenes than the horror scenes oddly enough), and some of the sound recording is a bit poor. I also didn't care for some of the editing choices. Some scenes are apparently edited for some artistic effect and I felt it more annoying than anything else. The characters are not introduced in a traditional manner and I found it difficult to keep track of character names or know who they were.

It's that lack of traditional manner that I also really enjoy about the movie. Often in movies characters get a chance to identify themselves, almost standing up in front of the audience, saying their name and stating their cliche ('Hi, I'm Beth and I'll be the stuck up rich girl for this movie.'). 'Darkness' feels very much like a documentary in this regard, with events being captured by a camera for posterity. Long time friends don't say things to each other that they already know in order to explain themselves to the audience.

The way that the vampires are treated is also very interesting. Movie vampires are generally sexy characters that hypnotize their prey into wanting the kiss of the vampire. In this movie, the turned are almost beasts, hunting in packs for those they can bite. Of the few (if not only) actual bite scenes in the movie is not a calm moment as victim sighs and vampire bites, it is a fight with the stronger vampire winning out, wounding its prey until others can join it and truly bring down the blood feast.

The gore effects, of which there are many, are also quite good, very impressive considering the no doubt low budget of the film. Lots of blood spurting and flesh melting and things like these.

All in all, as I noted, an interesting film but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it. Or perhaps how much I enjoyed it. From some of the special features, it appears this was the first in a trilogy. Part of me is keen to see the other two, part not so much.

Mildly recommended for those interested in low budget horror or gore films. I doubt anyone else would very this interesting at all.

08 July 2008

Survey says!

I've got all these forms and things to fill out so that the outplacement group can get to know me better and, at least in theory, be in a better position to help me find something interesting to do. One section of the survey would list four jobs at a time and I'd rate my first and second choice of the four. The results came back that I have a high interest in the literary field.

All I could do was laugh and feel confident I'd filled it out correctly.

07 July 2008

Announcement Type Thing

I don't talk about my day job much online. There's a good reason for that. I've been near to a situation where individuals have gotten dismissed from their job for complaining about it online. Admittedly, this was slightly above normal complaining but it was still a reminder: be careful what you type.

Since I have this mindset, why am I bringing up my day job? Simple, I currently don't have one. My employer of multiple years went through an employee reduction recently and I was part of it. My last day was July 3rd. It was a sad day for all.

The upside is that the company is being very nice about it. I've got outplacement classes to assist me with getting myself back in the job searching mode as well as a severance package that I consider generous. In the short term, I'll be good. Long term, this might be a good thing or really good thing. If I have to be in this position, at least I'm excited about it. A little nervous but excited.

Let's see what's next, hmm?