Tag Archives: wolves

Nosferatu

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Vampire Owl: Finally, our Count is coming back to the big screen.

Vampire Bat: This one is not really the true Dracula Uncle.

Vampire Owl: Well, Count Orlok is not lesser than Count Dracula.

Vampire Bat: I have heard from humans that this Orlok is an illegal version.

Vampire Owl: Well, there are no such rules in vampire kingdom, right?

Vampire Bat: Human rules need not apply here, but we should know.

Vampire Owl: We will never really know the humans.

Vampire Bat: We will know everything except their inherent evil.

Vampire Owl: Well, which is why we do not transform humans into vampires anymore.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that they want to; the greed for eternal life and perpetual youth.

[Gets a tea cake and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) is a recently married young woman who has had too many nightmares in her life in the past, and it is revealed that her recent bad dream about being married to death and everyone around her dead. It is revealed that while looking for consolation from her loneliness and depression in life, during her random chants and prayers, she had ended up creating a psychic link with Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), or what they villagers of Romania used to call Nosferatu, with Romanian roots. The nocturnal creature of pure evil had marked Ellen from thousands of kilometres away, and this connection often led her into situations of seizures and sleepwalking. She keeps having hallucinations and a feeling of being with death, from which escape seems almost impossible. She has been living in the German town of Wisborg with her husband Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) and is irreversibly in love with him as it seems, but this connection seems to have journeyed through the unimaginable, the darkest of the woods and deepest of the rivers and lakes.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: It is then that Thomas accepts the offer to sell the partially ruined Grünewald Manor to a reclusive lord named Count Orlok located somewhere in Romania. Ellen talks about her nightmares and pleads Thomas not to leave for those unknown lands where a certain cursed evil lurks, but the offer from his employer is too much for him not to accept this opportunity of a life time. He leaves her in the care of his wealthy friend and famous shipbuilder Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his wife Anna Harding (Emma Corrin) who lives with their two little daughters. As he arrives at the Carpathians in the Transylvanian area of Romania, Thomas is warned not to wander around during the nights and not to visit Orlok. During the same night, he still wanders around and witnesses a group of gypsies running a ritual with a fully naked woman on a horse which ends with the exhuming and impaling a vampire’s corpse with a wooden stake, ending the undead life with a lot of blood coming out of its mouth. The next morning, he finds no help or support, and leaves for the count’s castle alone and on foot.

And what is to follow as the Count maintains all the control over the world known to him? :: In his castle, Count Orlok welcomed Thomas as the aristocrat that required respect at all times. But soon, his existence as something more than human is revealed to Thomas, who hopes to escape, but the paths of the castle only lead to the crypt where the count is sleeping in his coffin, and he is not able to attack him as the vampire awakens, and so do his demonic hounds. He understands that he will have to remain a prisoner in the castle forever, as the document which the count made him sign might not be the Romanian version of the deal concerning the property, but a document dissolving his marriage to Ellen and the vampire had also taken his locket, containing a lock of her hair. He understands the vampire is going after his wife, and jumps into the river below the castle to escape. But the count has already started his journey and has infested a ship which is on its way to Germany. He will not stop at anything unless he becomes together with Ellen. Can anyone stop this evil from embracing her and also spread through the whole of Western Europe? Or will the blood-seeking demon have a blood feast that will last forever?

The defence of Nosferatu :: The movie achieves atmospheric horror and thrives with the sound effects as much as the visuals. There is fear running through the air, as we rarely see a world thriving on light here. The psychological side very strong here, and the performance of Lily-Rose Depp is truly magical here, with so many moments to remember, and the final few moments of her is out of this world. I cannot stop myself from not being the new admirer of Johnny Depp’s daughter as I have been a fan of him. I can say that I have never seen the main female character of any version of Bram Stoker’s work getting such attention which is supported by a performance of grandeur. The connection to the demonic creature and talk about all of this terror has never been so perfectly detailed and connected to the female lead. Nicholas Hoult and Willem Dafoe works the roles just as expected, while Bill Skarsgård’s demon is something we have not seen before, well divergent in looks and actions to create more terror. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corin move through expected paths. These are not just characters, but people who immerse us in their wisely created world with fine performances.

Positives and negatives :: It can be said that there is no movie based on Bram Stoker’s work that has provided an emotional and haunting touch like this one, and a terrifying vampire movie becoming an emotional tale of love and selflessness keeps us rooting for the film even more, like never before. The movie basically like music which strives for a fight against the most terrifying form of evil with love. By the end, here we know that as evil always finds a way, so does goodness and self-sacrifice. Finally, we know that the melancholy of the main character is not hers alone, but of all of us. It is a poetry on what it takes to thrive against the most ancient forms of evil. The sequence in the forest makes a fine reflection which is to come, and there are some classic shots in the castle that elevates this movie to a psychic-psychological mood which is rarely seen in the adaptations. The final image from where the camera zooms out reflects the same, and that too with a melancholic beauty. There is also some work with demonic possession, which is actually shown without any overdose. This is indeed a fine Gothic work that reflects the Victorian Age even when not in Britain. The one thing that we might really be missing is the Brides of Dracula.

How it finishes :: This is the one movie which becomes a fine divergent tribute to both the 1922 version of Nosferatu and the many later versions of Dracula as well as the original book, along with being a different entity in itself. There seems to be so many inspirations, and many creative ideas placed around here. This version is sure to be remembered as a classic in future, no matter problems critics would find, which would be lost in the process. This version might be the one which needs even more attention than what it has managed. This is that version of the vampire that maintains all kinds of feeling which are related to a vampire as a nocturnal creature that feeds from the lifeforce of humans. There are not many movies which can pay homage to so many of its predecessors and still remain something new. This one, with some fantastic performance and an atmosphere which would put even the high-budget movies to shame, manages to rise and seek theatre experience – it is quite depressing that the movie was not really found in theatres when it released.

Release date: 25th December 2024
Running time: 132 minutes
Directed by: Robert Eggers
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Katerina Bila

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Rock Dog

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Vampire Owl: Do you think that this dog is as emotional as a rock?

Vampire Bat: If it was so, the same wouldn’t have been part of an animated movie.

Vampire Owl: Okay, so the dog is as strong as a rock.

Vampire Bat: This is not really a supernatural movie. So leave that out of your mind.

Vampire Owl: Maybe, he is fan of The Rock?

Vampire Bat: Almost everyone is a fan of Dwayne Johnson. But not the animated cat.

Vampire Owl: At least tell me that he is a Rocky fan.

Vampire Bat: Dude, they are referring to the music.

Vampire Owl: Oh! My relationship with music is as bad as my friendship with the Vampire Crocodile.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that this movie would help a little.

[Gets three cups of ginger tea with a piece of ghee cake].

What is the movie about? :: In a village known only by the name Snow Mountain, a dog named Bodi (Luke Wilson) is supposed to be the next guard, guarding the sheep there from the wolves who wish to eat each and every one of them. His father Khampa (J. K. Simmons) hopes that some day, he will take over the place to become the tough guard whom every wolf will be afraid of. But Bodi doesn’t even come close to looking like a tough guard dog, and keeping the wolves out is rather something which seems impossible. But Khampa is sure that the bad wolves led by Linnux (Lewis Black) will return one day or the other, and orders everyone to be vigiliant if they are to stay alive. To avoid making any noise, he has banned music there, locking up every musical instrument, and also keeps some of the sheep disguised as dogs so that the wolves will think that there are many of them, and they are all alert.

So, what happens next? :: Bodi keeps failing the training, and even fails to work with his father’s special movie known as the Iron Paw that was to be the one thing which would give the dogs advantage over the wolves who are wild are huge in number. To add to it, Bodi also becomes interested in rock music, after listening to the rock legend Angus Scattergood (Eddie Izzard) through a radio which falls down from an airplane. As he steals something from all those musical instruments which were locked up by his father and starts playng, there is the realization among everyone that he is not going to listen, and he would never be the guard dog who is to save the village from the wolves. Even after trying many methods to change his son, he finds none of them working. The village elder Fleetwood Yak (Sam Elliott) asks Khampa to let Bodi become whatever he wants, and do whichever thing he finds comfortable in his life. Khampa lets him go on one condition that he will return for guard duty if he fails in becoming a popular musician.

And what is to follow with this adventure? :: Bodi leaves Snow Mountain, but is followed by a few wolves who wish to take him hostage so that they can use him as the key to attack Snow Mountain. But Bodi survives by luck and reaches the centre of city – There he finds a band which consists of a fox Darma (Mae Whitman), a goat named Germur (Jorge Garcia), and a snow leopard named Trey (Matt Dillon). He is humiliated by Trey, who defeats him in a guitar contest, and tells him to go and learn from him favourite rockstar who has a certain god effect among the music lovers. Bodi sets off to the rockstar’s house at the exact moment, but little does he realize that the man is not what he thought he was. Mr. Scatterhood is a Persian cat who lives a lonely life, having no companion other than a robot. He has a high security setup which is meant to keep everyone away. Can Bodi, chased by wolves, make the fan-hating rockstar at least look at him? And who will save the Snow Mountain?

The defence of Rock Dog :: There are not many other animated movies which have managed to pull something out with what seems to be so less in hand. We have our protagonist who tries to go beyond what he is supposed to be, chasing his dreams, as many other animated movie characters have done in the past. There is also one rockstar who reminds us of so many celebrities in our world. With the funny side as well as the inner messages, this one scores over many other animated movies which have got the appreciation of the critics, including the overrated Brave, happiness magnet Trolls and the last year’s nomination Kubo and the Two Strings. We see the main characters, the rock dog, the rock cat, the sheep and the wolves, and we enjoy watching what each of them do, and how everything turns out for all. It surely turns better than what the critics had told you, and you get to go searching for what you really need in your life – and most probably go against what society tells you.

The claws of flaw :: Just as expected, this one also doesn’t move that much away from its predictability, and it also takes too much time to get into the action – considering its extra short run-time which doesn’t even reach one and half hours, it makes the movie even shorter after that. It is based on the Chinese graphic novel named Tibetan Rock Dog by Zheng Jun, and one has to wonder if this lives up to that, and whether it could have done better with the material already in hand. The animation also seems a little strange considering how much it has developed – here, it seems to be animated in a rather lesser way when we look at some parts; it is more because of the quality which has been brought in animation with flicks like Frozen, Moana, Zootopia, Despicable Me, How to Train Your Dragon, Inside Out, Kung Fu Panda and many others. Rock Dog is not really rocking when we consider that department deeper. Also, for most of us, rock works less.

How it finishes :: We keep seeing the animal world taking over, with them reigning all over with the animation – there is Sing, Zootopia, and others which has them all over as Cars have the vehicles power going on. Sing even has the music as do Rock Dog, and there is the presence of a few things common which you can search and find or ignore as you wish. The critics may not have been that lenient with Rock Dog as they have been with certain other movies, which rather surprises a lot of us, but everyone can surely watch this movie with the same feeling as they approach most of the other animated movies, as I can surely say that Rock Dog is not that far behind as you think, and when thinking about it from another angle, there is more than enough to keep this as interesting adventure with moments which are to be remembered – rocking at times, as a few people I know would describe it.

Release date: 24th February 2017
Running time: 80 minutes
Directed by: Ash Brannon
Starring: Luke Wilson, Eddie Izzard, J. K. Simmons, Lewis Black, Kenan Thompson, Mae Whitman, Jorge Garcia, Matt Dillon, Sam Elliott, Liza Richardson, Ash Brannon, Will Finn, Julie Craig, Deng Feng, Kellen Goff, Jennifer Hale, Matthew W. Taylor

<— Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Underworld: Blood Wars

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Vampire Owl: This movie has been going on and on, and we, the vampires have spent so much money or trying to attain copies of the same.

Vampire Bat: I have heard that even Werewolf Anger has a copy of the first three movies of the franchise.

Vampire Owl: Why would he have those copies? He is angry at all movies.

Vampire Bat: He is angry at everything, and so this anger is actually a reflection of his less angry side.

Vampire Owl: But it is still Werewolf Anger, the angriest werewolf of all-time.

Vampire Bat: There is some competition regarding the same, from Werewolf Hunger.

Vampire Owl: Well, hunger is a strong emotion, and he is named after that; so I would expect some tough competition.

Vampire Bat: I hope that watching Blood Wars won’t make them more interested in wars.

Vampire Owl: Watching Underworld: Awakening awakened nobody though.

Vampire Bat: Well, all the movies in this franchise will be better tales than Twilight for sure.

[Gets three cups of cardamom tea with Little Hearts biscuits].

What is the movie about? :: The war between the two species goes on, and vampires are in trouble with the advanced werewolves, the stronger and the sharper versions of Lycans going through them, with only two strongholds left for the formerly high class species of undead, the Eastern Coven and the Nordic Coven. Semira (Lara Pulver), a beautiful and ambitious council member of the vampires, sees Selene (Kate Beckinsale) as the only hope for saving their coven as well as preserving their world as it has been for many years. With Lycans only getting stronger under their ruthless and fearsome leader Marius (Tobias Menzies), Semira gets the support of Thomas (Charles Dance), a Vampire Elder who is the father of David (Theo James), whose life was saved by Selene herself. They are successful in getting the support of the council which declares Semira fully responsible for whatever actions Selene comes up with when inside the coven.

So, what happens next in the movie? :: The vampires have been searching for Selene already, seeking justice for the deaths of Viktor (Bill Nighy) and Marcus (Tony Curran), and this becomes her opportunity to return to the coven, forgiven, even though not forgotten as a murderer of her own kind. David pleads her to return to the coven, as she could join her kind and defend everyone against Marius who also wishes to capture Selene for information about her daughter Eve (India Eisley) whose blood could prove vital to the werewolves in attaining ultimate supremacy over vampires. Alexia (Daisy Head) arrives with her team and the order from the coven and takes Selene home just in time before the Lycans arrive at the scene. There they are given a warm welcome, but Varga (Bradley James), the leading Death Dealer of the coven isn’t happy that Selene has returned to train his team of Death Dealers, and with his intimate relationship with Semira, a twist seems to be coming up.

The defence of Underworld: Blood Wars :: There is the usual style of the Underworld franchise that we see here, and it is reflected not just on the visuals and the action sequences, but also in the overall dark mood. Vampires facing werewolves is the kind of idea that never gets old, and will remain interesting as long as you don’t put too much drama in there by the way of Twilight an its evil twin sisters. The tale continues with all those elements that are to satisfy the fans of the franchise. The movie also finishes off smartly, with having an option to end the tale there, as well as to continue it – the scope for a new dawn in this movie will be an entirely different one too. Still, whatever they do it will be eternally impossible to have the pre-determined critics to rate a movie like this any higher; if this was a Bollywood movie with a heavy dose of nonsense, maybe the reviewers here would have rated it a lot high; add a big superstar to it, and you know what happened with dumb movies like Krrish and its sequels.

Claws of flaw :: People are certain to think that there is too less added to this movie as another significant movie in the franchise – for there was the scope for deviation while retaining the basic elements, which is not taken. The journey here is just the easy way, with no special ingredient. I would also consider to be the second least interesting movie of the franchise following the one movie that was the prequel without Kate Beckinsale in it. Even though the critical opinions are without doubt biased and prejudiced as it was with almost every Underworld movie, this is surely a step down from the previous movie, Underworld: Awakening. Without a proper understanding of the background used in this movie, the weaklings will also find it difficult to go through this movie, and some reviewers need to be shown all movies of this franchise, without which they seem to struggle to find out which movie is this particular flick which they watched.

Performers of the soul :: Kate Beckinsale is also at her best as usual, and she becomes Selene and shines through this movie too – she looks almost the same as when the first movie released fourteen years ago, something that the Resident Evil series and Milla Jovovich will have in common. There is not much that separates her, all the action, and the style of this movie. We had also seen the same in the remake of Total Recall as well as Van Helsing. Selene is a character whom we have identified as one of the most recognizable vampires in live-action movies, and with her being played by the same person, and having the same looks throughout the franchise has helped the cause further. Giving her company as the other gorgeous vampire is Lara Pulver, whom we will all remember as the special Irene Adler from the Sherlock television series, with that introduction scene and what followed from A Scandal in Belgravia. Clementine Nicholson is another actress who will be a big asset to the franchise without doubt. We are also glad to see the Divergent franchise‘s own Theo James here again.

How it finishes :: Anna Foerster’s first movie has the fans of the franchise interested for sure, with the vampire-werewolf tale never running out of opportunities make more and more movies. This is also one of those movies which release first in India and then in the United States – something which happens at a few occasions mostly with those superhero movies and not with anything that has a vampire or a werewolf. This tale can surely bring more sequels, prequels and even spin-offs, and with some divine intervention, maybe there will be a movie which will be loved by the critics – but the chance of the same is very little. But it is up-to us to enjoy movies like these, instead of overrating those local superhero movies which has nothing inside them other than some so called superstars who come down to such a terrible level to act in such nonsense – we will have anyone without intellectual poverty will have trouble watching such flicks, but both the common viewers and the reviewers will claim that the movies are of epic level.

Release date: 6th January 2017 (USA); 2nd December 2016 (India)
Running time: 91 minutes
Directed by: Anna Foerster
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Lara Pulver, Theo James, James Faulkner, Daisy Head, Clementine Nicholson, Tobias Menzies, Charles Dance, Oliver Stark, Peter Andersson, Bradley James

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.