Underwater

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I am sure that this not the best time to go underwater.

Vampire Bat: Why would you think so?

Vampire Owl: Because there is Corona Virus underwater.

Vampire Bat: They are actually everywhere. You are never safe from them.

Vampire Owl: I have heard that they have infected the underwater kingdoms too.

Vampire Bat: I am pretty sure that they can’t go that deep.

Vampire Owl: An emergency has been declared in twenty one underwater kingdoms.

Vampire Bat: It should be due to the election process.

Vampire Owl: The virus might have spread during the elections.

Vampire Bat: Well, I wouldn’t deny that possibility, because the election process is the perfect super-spreader in any realm.

[Gets a strawberry cake and three cups of black tea].

What is the movie about? :: Norah Price (Kristen Stewart), a mechanical engineer wakes up in the morning only to find that the underwater research and drilling facility where she is staying and working is beginning to fall apart. Within a few seconds, Kepler 822 facility which is operated by Titan Industries at the bottom of the Mariana Trench has water coming in, and with great difficulty, Norah manages to seal herself inside the safe part of the facility and finds Rodrigo Nagenda (Mamoudou Athie) and Paul Abel (TJ Miller), as they make their way to escape pod bay. They find the captain W Lucien (Vincent Cassel) along with a researcher working as an intern, Emily Haversham (Jessica Henwick) and also another engineer Liam Smith (John Gallagher). They are not able to communicate anymore, and the escape pods are no longer an option. Their only option is to walk to the next area through the ocean floor and try to contact outside world from there.

So, what happens with the events here? :: The idea is indeed a risky one, but there doesn’t seem to be another option, as they would have the thermal reactor exploding very soon. They continue on their journey only to have the first person imploding due to a faulty helmet. The rest of the team finds a distress signal underneath, and goes to check out what seems to be an escape pod. But the only thing they find out is a dead body, and an unidentified creature which doesn’t seem to be of any known definition – a new species which seems to have some interest in human flesh. This leads to many doubts about the cause of the earthquake-like incident which destroyed most of the drilling facility and killed most of the people there. They had also come across some other strange sounds, and this could be even a pre-historic species which had come out from the ocean floor. Now, what would this mean for chances of their survival?

The defence of Underwater :: This is one of those movies which gets quickly into action, as we get the explosion of the drilling facility so early, without introducing us to anyone or anything. There is the feeling of terror spread throughout the world in here. The initial and the final moments are the best, and it is up to Kristen Stewart to make sure about it. Life so many leagues under the ocean is indeed a scary one, and this situation makes the whole thing the thriller that we had expected. There is fear at all corners here, but this could have actually been another franchise like Alien – yet, the movie doesn’t strive that much for the same. The movie has also included the elements from the weird tales of HP Lovecraft, which comes as a fine addition too. Underwater, despite the scope for improvement, is a movie that everyone should love at least up to a certain amount – it is a movie with the minimum guarantee, and with the sound effects nicely added, is worth more.

The claws of flaw :: There is no doubt about the fact that this movie could have used its resources better, to expand the idea well enough to bring an even bigger adventure, something of grand epic proportions. In the middle period, the movie does slow down, and the action could have been more, and could have had further intensity. The creatures could have been better defined, and there is too much of darkness for us to see them clearly, and provide that fear factor. The scenes under the ocean could have been clearer, because we are watching a movie, and not trying to know how it looks underwater without light. When you are waiting to see those monsters coming towards you, it is not nice that you don’t really get to see them with all the possible glory. If you think that the underwater world is not supposed to bring a visual splendour with terror, that is not the right way of thinking – after all, horror can be beautiful on many occasions.

Performers of the soul :: Kristen Stewart steals the show here, unlike what she did with her earlier movies like Twilight and its sequels, as well as those roles like that of Snow White which never had us wishing to see more of her. Underwater has her in a tough role, she does the job really well. The movie is centered around here, as she saves the lives of as many people as she can, when it is possible – there are also those ideologies that guides her really well. Jessica Henwick is also an appropriate addition to this movie, and her depiction is as realistic as her character can get. Vincent Cassel as the captain is quite a solid one. The other characters are of lesser importance when we consider what they do in this situation of crisis. It is to be noted that there are only six remaining human characters in this movie after the early incident. The ocean itself is the only other character and environment around here, later replaced by the creatures as antagonists.

How it finishes :: Underwater makes an interesting adventure under the ocean, and the idea makes one feel that there should be a sequel to this one, which is going along similar to the Alien method, with humanoid creatures not from outer space, but out of the ocean floor. This is time period when we have been worried more by the viruses than the bigger creatures, and so the impact of such huge monsters are rather less in comparison to the microscopic ones. As we face this year with more variants of the microscopic organisms coming up, let us make sure that we stay safe, with all the COVID-19 precautions. Considering what people have been during Christmas and New Year, one would feel that the virus has been gone for long. But, we know that it is not the case, and we have to remain careful at all times. It is more of the responsibility of each individual rather than the government.

Release date: 10th January 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Directed by: William Eubank
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jessica Henwick, Vincent Cassel, John Gallagher Jr, Mamoudou Athie, TJ Miller

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Color Out of Space

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Does space have preference for any particular colour?

Vampire Bat: The colour here does look pink during the alien invasion.

Vampire Owl: Oh! I had considered it to be blue after the release of Avatar.

Vampire Bat: So, you didn’t think that it is black after Alien released.

Vampire Owl: No, blue just gave a better feeling, and nothing could rise over Avatar until Avengers: Endgame broke its box-office records.

Vampire Bat: But here, we have a pinkish colour which is almost pink.

Vampire Owl: We can take that for now, and leave it after the movie ends, because then it will always be blue.

Vampire Bat: Well, this one is from a story by HP Lovecraft, a master of horror. So, it is better to accept this colour as the alien shade.

Vampire Owl: I can’t do that. I have tried the same before with Stephen King.

Vampire Bat: Well, you can at least watch the movie and make the final decision.

[Gets an orange cake and three cups of black tea].

What is the movie about? :: Theresa Gardner (Joely Richardson), a financial advisor has been losing her clients after she was diagonised with breast cancer, and had a long treatment. As she settled down in a rural are with a farm where the family attempted to grow tomatoes and have alpacas for milk, she also had limited access to the internet, leading to a further problems in her career. Her husband Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage) had received the huge farm from his father, covering a grand area which extended towards the river on one side, and one the other side, it was almost impossible to find the borders. Their son Benny Gardner (Brendan Meyer) has been hanging around with Ezra (Tommy Chong) a local recluse who has been drinking a lot of alcohol and smoking weed all the time after he stopped being an electrician, and settled down in an area surrounded by woods. Nathan and Theresa are disappointed at the same, but there is nothing they can do.

So, what happens with the events here? :: Benny is not the only one affected by her mother’s disease and their move to the ancestral property, as their youngest son Jack Gardner (Julian Hilliard) is not even interested in talking to anyone else other than his pet dog Sam as he kept to himself all the time. Their only daughter Lavinia Gardner (Madeleine Arthur) becomes a Wiccan, and starts pagan witchcraft with the help of guides on black magic, hoping that one of those rituals close to nature can cure her mother’s remaining cancer cells completely. She keeps wearing strange and revealing Wiccan or Gothic clothing, and has coloured her hair in shade of violet, often traveling on a horse, much to the dismay of her parents. It is then that Ward Phillips (Elliot Knight) a hydrologist, surveying the water for an upcoming hydroelectric dam arrives there, and meets Lavinia in the middle of a pagan ritual involving a lock of hair.

And what else is to follow in this rural setting, making things different and divergent? :: One night, they are woken up by a Pinkish colour and a huge sound, which seems to be not of this world. While Lavinia feels it to be something magical, Benny finds it to be something from another planet, and they all finally agree that it is a meteorite after seeing a pink piece of the same lying on their lands. It is not exactly pink, with the colour feeling to be rather unearthly, and there is also a foul smell related to it. The very next morning, the meteorite is no longer glowing and is crumbling to dust. The mayor and the sheriff of the nearby town of Arkham also arrive to see it, followed by the television channels. But by that time, there is not much of the alien object remaining, seemingly having crumbled to death, leading to nobody taking it seriously. But on the next day, it is continuously struck by several bolts of lightning. Ward finds something wrong with the water there. How has the meteorite influenced the land, water and people around there? Is it safe anymore?

The defence of Color Out of Space :: HP Lovecraft is known to have blended science fiction with horror well, and it can be seen here too – use of science to reinforce the terror can be seen here, and it is displayed well in the movie. Use of recognizable monsters, jump scares and gory stuff is not longer the case, as a we go for the weird. It leaves a lot to be imagined too, as the fear feels more than what is seen here. The primordial forces from different worlds are stronger and beyond control, with no chance to escape, as no conceptions of reality can go beyond them. We are left with no power in front of things we don’t understand at all – it is the kind of horror from where nobody leaves alive. The colours are beautiful to watch on screen, adding to the lovely visuals of the countryside, but is supposed to be terror inside. Nicolas Cage does the usual job here and nothing more, but he is the one we trust every time. Madeleine Arthur remains cute even when going on the witch mode, and comes up with the next best performance, followed by Elliot Knight in this different horror thriller science fiction with colour itself as the alien life-form.

The claws of flaw :: As you already know, Colour Out of Space is not your usual type of horror thriller with a science fiction background present too – it is not for everyone, with all the weirdness, and a certain amount of disgust related to the same. The strangeness that one can feel in this movie goes rather too much for many people, and for Lovecraftian works transformed into movies, this might be found to be natural. This is the kind of tale which came before Alien and its sequels, and so, right now, we expect this movie adaptation to be even better – we don’t see that much of an extra effort which is put in here. The horror could have been added with something more, making it even more suitable for the age. There are times when one feels a comic effect, which should have been avoided, considering how terrifying, an inescapable this situation seems to be. One also has to doubt the use of Nicolas Cage here, who is not at his usual self. The final moments could have been better managed too.

How it finishes :: The movie is based on The Colour Out of Space, which is a science fiction as well as horror short story by the famous American author HP Lovecraft, who has come up with special interpretations in his tales regarding humanity’s place in the universe. His popular tales like The Call of Cthulhu, The Rats in the Walls, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow over Innsmouth, and The Shadow Out of Time have all been needing film adaptations, due to them bringing something a lot different than what we have had during those times. There has been many previous adaptations of his works, especially this particular story, but most of them haven’t been that popular, at least at this part of the world. This one has the ability to be more popular, even after some time after its release, because it has Nicolas Cage at the centre of things, and supported well, this one will rise above the others – this surely is one interesting journey, and you can go through that Lovecraft divergence nicely here.

Release date: 7th September 2019
Running time: 111 minutes
Directed by: Richard Stanley
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Madeleine Arthur, Joely Richardson, Q’orianka Kilcher, Tommy Chong