Rick’s Flicks Picks » This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates 21st Century Creature Features

This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates 21st Century Creature Features

13 08 2008

I like myself a good genre film. Recently I read a report that proposes that there is a gene that makes certain people react more positively to horror films. As a kid I always watched classic horror films on Sunday mornings. I particularly loved monster movies. So this week, I’m looking at five of the best creature features of the 21st century. To qualify the films have to have monsters. Some have monsters that are heroes. Some have monsters that are misunderstood. Some have ancient monsters. Some have monsters that come from another dimension. Some have monsters from another planet. So come along my genetically prone and enjoy some scares, adventures and even a few laughs.

Kicking off this week’s lineup, we have Guillermo del Toro’s HELLBOY. When it comes to giving us great monsters, director del Torro has given us some of the best in recent years. 2004’s HELLBOY established him as a director to watch, before crafting the masterpiece PAN’S LABYRINTH, a film filled with some of the most imaginative creatures since STAR WARS. Based on Mike Mignola’s comicbook, the story follows a secret U.S. agency that investigates paranormal incidents. Lead investigator Hellboy, played perfectly by Ron Perlman, has special knowledge of the paranormal, being that he is a large red demon with horns (that he saws off) and a giant rock fist. He secretly loves normal looking Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), who has the power to engulf herself in flames. Their partner is Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), an amphibian psychic. These “freaks” must stop the immortal Rasputin (Karel Roden) and his devilishly wonderful baddie Kroenen (Ladislav Beran), a villain with sand in his veins, literally. Mixing the thrilling with the humorous, this is a superhero movie that remembers to have fun. As I said in my original review, “When it comes to the best of comicbook movies, they are always the ones that deal with the heroes like humans.” HELLBOY truly gives us creatures we can care about.

The Saturday matinee is one for the family, MONSTER HOUSE. While not for little kids, to quote my original review, “It’s a PG film, but there are legit scares and tension.” DJ and his best friend Chowder have always feared DJ’s neighbor Nebbercracker and his menacing house. When the old man falls ill, DJ and Chowder become convinced that his house has come to life. Along with top-notched girl-scout Jenny, the trio challenge the monster house on Halloween night. This motion-capture animated film provides well-developed tweens that feel like real tweens and puts them in spooky situations much like THE GOONIES. With great voice work and a solid story, the film makes use care about its characters, while the wonderful production design and great direction from Gil Kenan bring a tension-filled tone. When the house finally comes fully alive, audiences get an amazingly designed creature, worthy of the great monsters. And like many great monsters, the monster house turns out to actually be misunderstood.

Closing Saturday’s doubleheader is another recent motion-capture animated film — BEOWULF. Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of the ancient tale crafts the story as a bawdy adventure. Beowulf (Ray Winstone) is a legendary hero who is called upon by drunkard King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) to kill the murderous demon Grendel (Crispin Glover). But the cocky hero will be tempted from his task by Hrothgar’s young wife Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn) and Grendel’s ravishing, shape-shifting mother (Angelina Jolie). This hyper-real fantasy pushes photoreal CG to the next level, fitting the epic adventure tale. Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery’s script brings rich depth to the story about an arrogant man who must discover what real heroism truly is. Winstone, Hopkins, Wright Penn and Brendan Gleeson as Beowulf’s right hand man give great performances in voice and body as their subtle performances shine through the performance-captured technology, which transforms them into digital warriors. Glover’s Grendel is one vicious creature, but wait till you get a load of his half-brother. As I said in my original review, “There’s blood and nudity and bawdy behavior. There’s a cheeky charm to the film that’s created via the combination of digital imagery and sexual material.”

Opening the Sunday lineup, THE MIST is the most traditional creature feature in the Festival. Bringing a Stephen King story together with director Frank Darabont together again (previously SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and GREEN MILE), this classic horror tale traps a group of people in a sieged upon location, where the monsters on the outside turn out to be less dangerous than the humans on the inside. David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is determined to protect his son from the giant monsters that lurk in the mysterious mist of their small New England town. But standing in his way is Bible-thumping zealot Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden). Sides will be drawn, but as the situation gets more dangerous the more people begin to side with the fire-and-brimstone crowd. Filled with classic creature feature gore and moral crisis, THE MIST puts its large cast of characters into a strange situation and observes how these characters react. In particular, city-dwelling lawyer Brent (Andre Braugher) doubts the tale of the locals who he feels look down at him. The characters will be presented many tough moral choices, and as I said in my original review, “The ending will leave you thinking, which is probably better than a traditional ending that would be easily forgotten.” How would you react when all hope seems to be lost?

Steven Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS closes This Weekend’s Film Festival. Upon my original review in the summer of 2005, I said, “Steven Spielberg has made his best film since SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.” For the films that came before it, that statement still rings true. Mixing modern allegory with H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi tale, Spielberg brings us his first extraterrestrial tale with malevolent aliens. Lurking under the ground, the aliens attack humans from within their own neighborhoods, putting Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) and his children Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning) on the run. During their race to Boston, the less-than-perfect father will have to rise to the occasion to save his kids. Along the way, they meet survivalist Ogilvy (Tim Robbins), who turns out to be just as dangerous as the outer space invaders. This epic disaster tale puts average folks into extraordinary situations, forcing them to become heroes, which makes them infinitely more relatable. WAR OF THE WORLDS is a perfect example of combining smart social commentary with big action-adventure.

So there’s your creature feature lineup. Tell me what you think. It’s that time when you should head to the video store, update the rental queue, check Zap2It.com for TV listings, or buy the films on DVD at the below links.