October Belongs to Horror #3: Army of Zombies (Kuutamosonaatti II: Kadunlakaisijat)

Army of Zombies (Kuutamosonaatti II: Kadunlakaisijat)
Filminor, Finland, 1991.

...And in Germany this is known as "Muttertag 3."

The first film "Kuutamosonaatti" was darkly fun agrarian horror cult film. Sadly the sequel loses the horror momentum and the result is a confusing mess.

Most of the Kyyrölä family died in the first film. Mother froze to death and Arvo burned to crisp. Only animal-like giant Sulo (Mikko Kivinen) remained. Sulo takes the remains of his family to a sauna, because if a good sauna won't help then nothing will. And so Mother (Soli Labbart) and pervy brother Arvo (Kari Sorvali) revive. Arvo is more slack-jawed than before (his jawbone falls several times), but that will heal over time. They can also revive Father Kyyrölä (Erkki Pajala) who drowned into swamp when he was smuggling moonshine. 

Sulo

Arvo

It is time for Arvo to go find a job in Helsinki. Nosy social workers come to the farm so the Kyyrölä's sink them into swamp. There is some recession era satire when Arvo tries several jobs. In Helsinki Arvo gets a job entertaining Russian tourists. A better job opens up as driver of street sweeping machine (therefore justifying the Finnish name of the movie: "Street Sweepers." Finally he starts living by selling moonshine. Beautiful singer Kata Kärkkäinen (former Playboy-model and nowadays writer, artist and media-persona) catches Arvo's eye this time, but compared to the first film the threat is mild. 

Arvo's bachelor pad

Kata Kärkkäinen

Mother Kyyrölä gets worried that Arvo is living a sinful life in the city. So Mother and Sulo have to find Arvo and put him under control As a funny detail everyone in Helsinki seems to originate from Kyyrölä-village (satirizing the movement of country people to the cities). On the way to find Arvo, the Kyyrölä's meet yuppies, inept cops and social workers who all look like Finnish actor Matti Pellonpää. So far so good. Even as the horror aspect was lost, there could have been some funny contrast to the first film when the hellbillies moved into big city.

Matti Tuominen as the leader of Red Guard zombies

Matti Pellonpää as social worker

But the focus shifts and it is difficult to say what the makers had in mind. Father Kyyrölä revives a squad of Red Guard soldiers who were executed during the Civil War. With their leader Edward Allan Kilpinen (Matti Tuominen) the zombie communists travel to Helsinki to continue the revolution. Bumbling around, they meet various people including the Minister of Culture (Miitta Sorvali, who is Kari Sorvali's comedian wife).

Minister of Culture (Miitta Sorvali)

And so on. Kyyrölä brothers sell hazardous moonshine, and cause a ruckus in Miss Helsinki contest (hosted by era's popular game show host Jorma Pulkkinen), chase Kata in amusement park Linnanmäki and escape cops. But the film is basically plotless and the story goes nowhere. Arvo still has some funny one-liners but everything is watered down. It is still recommended to watch once to see the further adventures of the Kyyröläs. However the experience is quite painful.

Jorma Pulkkinen

Finnish Ramopunk band 'Ne Luumäet' made a song inspired by the film with the chorus: "'You shouldn't stare too much at the street sweeper. He comes and kills. And when he kills, then you die.'

Rating: Bad

Starring: Soli Labbart, Kari Sorvali, Mikko Kivinen, Erkki Pajala, Keijo Komppa, Matti Tuominen, Ilkka Koivula, Esa Anttila, Seppo Juusonen, Jussi Tuominen, Katariina Souri, Mikko Nousiainen, Vesa Vierikko, Leena Rapola, Veli Tuomas-Kettunen, Olavi Tervahartiala, Veikko Tiitinen, Jouko Klemettilä, Matti Pellonpää, Juha Häkkänen, Toivo Tuomainen, Martti Kuisma, Anne Nielsen, Aulis Hämäläinen, Pentti Louko, Tauno Karvonen, Miitta Sorvali, Ulla Tapaninen, Jari Järvimaa, Jorma Pulkkinen, Sari Havas, Risto Aaltonen, Harri Hyttinen, Lina Ignatova, Pirjo Kotimäki, Sonja Lindén, Marjo Louhe, Pia Nolvi, Anne Pakkanen, Albena Petrova, Ranja Rannikko, Anne Styrman, Satu Tuuliluoto, Minna Aaltonen
Director: Olli Soinio

October Belongs to Horror #2: The Moonlight Sonata (Kuutamosonaatti)

The Moonlight Sonata (Kuutamosonaatti)
Filminor, Finland, 1988.

Horror was for a long time a rare genre in Finland. In the 1980s tough film censorship comparable to British Video Nasty laws made sure that seeing many classics of genre films was only possible via smuggled bootleg video tapes. The Finnish horror films were countable on one hand's fingers. In 1988 director Olli Soinio made a cult hillbilly horror film in the vein of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" being a rare example of Finnish horror of that era.

Disturbed Family Kyyrölä lives on the countryside. Puritanic Mother (Soli Labbart) and her son Arvo (Kari Sorvali) keep Arvo's animal-like brother Sulo (Mikko Kivinen) locked in the basement. During the full moon the boys get insane. One night Sulo escapes and joins a gang of wolves.

Mother

Arvo

Sulo

Fashion model Anni Stark (Tiina Björkman) has run into some kind of scandal and gets enough of publicity. Manager Carli (Ville-Veikko Salminen) thinks that maybe vacation on the countryside would be cool her nerves. Motel manager (Risto Salmi) is hesitant to take visitors. But he arranges a desolate skiing cabin for Anni and her dog Ebba. In no time perverted Arvo starts to stalk her even stealing her panties.

Anni

Carli

Johannes

Annis's little brother Johannes (Kim Gunell) comes to see Anni. For Arvo tractor is like a chainsaw for Leatherface, so the maniac chases them in the forest. The local people look only barely more normal than the folks from "Deliverance" and they do nothing to help. Getting away alive from the degenerate village is harder than it seems. 

Tractor from hell

Local hunks

There is no question that the film will mean more to the Finnish audience (it was never meant for international publication). For me it has always been a proof that we can do genre savvy horror in Finland too. Arvo's demented one-liners have become cult favourite's. "Let's do mittens out of the cat" says Arvo when he looks at Anni's dog.

Stylish wintery cinematography and Antti Hytti's creepy soundtrack create an unnerving mood. The dialogue is scarce and for the most part it is monologue of Arvo. Likewise the bodycount is very low for a horror film. Even so the Kyyrölä Brothers are enjoyably demented horror villains. One weird nostalgic event is the cameo of Toivo Tuomainen as a shopkeeper. Toivo was known from electronic store 'Musta Pörssi' commercials as bustling salesman Topi, but here even he looks creepy.

Shopkeeper

Tiina Björkman in the main role is pretty, but mostly her acting here consists of looking worried and running away. Still in the second half she learns to fight back. Too bad her movie career was short, she had roles only in six movies, and she pursued a different career. Other actors Ville-Veikko Salminen, Mikko Kivinen, Kari Sorvali, Risto Salmi and Soli Labbart have all had a long career in Finnish movies, theater and TV-series. For some reason the movie is known in Germany as "Muttertag 2 - Die Söhne sind zurück" (with no connection whatsoever to Troma's "Mother's Day."). There is also a sequel that goes more to the direction of horror comedy.

Rating: Very good

Starring: Tiina Björkman, Kim Gunell, Ville-Veikko Salminen, Kari Sorvali, Mikko Kivinen, Soli Labbart, Risto Salmi, Toivo Tuomainen, Esa Anttila, Masaaki Hashimoto, Juuso Ruohomäki, Arthur Fuhrmann, Kai Honkanen, Matti Kuortti, Rolf Labbart, Jouko Lumme
Director: Olli Soinio

October Belongs to Horror #1: Dead Before Dawn (2012)

Dead Before Dawn (2012) a.k.a Dead Before Dawn 3D
WANGO Films, Canada, 2012.

Halloween is near, so it is time to watch horror films. Finnish blogger ...noir challenged bloggers to watch eight horror films during October, so October Belongs to Horror (Lokakuu kuuluu kauhulle).

My first choice is a Canadian indie horror comedy. 

Casper Galloway (Devon Bostick, known for "Diary of a Wimpy Kid") is a clumsy college kid. He goes to help his Grandpa Horus (Christopher Lloyd) to take care of occult shop. His friends come shopping and an ancient demon is freed. Bit like "Ghostbusters" they have to select the form of pestilence, so they conjure up wacky rules involving idea of suicidal people turning into half demon half zombie monsters who infect the cursed by giving hickeys.

...
..
.

Right-o.

Casper Galloway

Horus

So everyone they look into eyes start killing themselves and turning into zemons. Along with Casper there are Casper's secret love interest Charlotte (Martha MacIsaac, known for "Superbad"), charmingly ditzy cheerleader  Lucy (Brittany Allen, who will appear in the next "Saw" movie "Jigsaw"), Caspers friends Dazzle (Brandon Jay McLaren) and Becky (director April Mullen), mug entrepreuner Seth (Tim Doiron who wrote the script) and Charlotte's meanie boyfriend jock Patrick (Kyle Schmid). There is a way to break the curse but the time limit is tight. If the curse is not broken before next morning they will all die. The night will be long and bloody.

Charlotte and Lucy

Dazzle, Seth and Becky

Hillbilly zemons (Max Topplin and Marty Adams)

There are so many zombie horror-comedies that it is refreshing that someone tries to have some new ideas and create eccentric characters even if they are basically stereotypes (a loser, two jocks, two cheerleaders, pothead and a tough girl). Although some of the jokes are more lame than funny, there are many moments of genuine hilarity. There was a funny way to show flashbacks and one of the character was obsessed with hotdogs. Christopher Lloyd is always good and in one scene he uttered his famous quote: "Great Scott!" As far as the action went, it was semi-gory, not showing the bloodiest kills but still there was more gore than would be expected from the Finnish age rating 12. Has the The Finnish Board of Film Classification been sloppy? Otherwise the tone was not too serious, even with some basically tragic events. But so it is usually with these zombie comedies, and this makes a fun Halloween viewing if you like dumb humour.

Lucy's weapon of choice

Seth's new friend (Kent Churly) comes to visit

This was the first Canadian 3D film. I do not believe that I missed anything by watching the 2D version. Couple of CGI-explosions looked awful, otherwise the effects were okay for the budget. As the actors had a lot of experience of films and TV-shows, the acting was good (although comically ver the top) and the actors were clearly having fun.

Rating: Good

Starring: Devon Bostick, Martha MacIsaac, Christopher Lloyd, Brandon Jay McLaren, Brittany Allen, Kyle Schmid, Tim Doiron, April Mullen, Kevin McDonald, Ellen Dubin, Rossif Sutherland, Dru Viergever, Benjamin Ayres, Max Topplin, Marty Adams, Jacob Ewaniuk, Boyd Banks, Melissa Jane Shaw, Michael Xavier, Meg Walter, Melanie Mullen, Mickey Moon, Tammy Young, Kent Churly, Kevin Jennings, Jack Benard, Byron Abalos, Chris Baker, Adam Buller, Luke Higginson, John Benard, Darryl Doiron, Nicholas Spencer Murray, Daniel M. Veldman

Director: April Mullen

Movie Review: Kill Zombie! a.k.a Zombibi

Kill Zombie! a.k.a Zombibi a.k.a. Shouf Shouf Zombibi
Launch Works, Talent United Film & TV, The Netherlands, 2012.

Aziz (Yahya Gaier) is a office worker who gets a date with her dream girl Tess (Nadia Poeschmann). Aziz's no-good brother Mo (Mimoun Ouled Radi) gets him fired. Also a fight at Mo's party gets them in slammer with tough but dumb guys Jeffrey (Sergio Hasselbaink) and Nolan (Uriah Arnhem). There is also a man in suit named Joris (Noel Deelen). In consequence Aziz's date is ruined. Sad. 

Tess and Aziz

While the boys sit in cell a falling space station causes a zombie apocalypse. Tough cop Kim (Gigi Ravelli) and the guys try to survive. Tess is trapped in the office buidling so she must be saved. But Joris has big plans about bank robbery. With the law gone nothing can go wrong, right?

Joris, Mo, Nolan, Aziz and Jeffrey

Kim

"Zombieland" and "Shaun of the Dead" inspired several zombie-comedies, some good and some worse. Another non-English zombie-film that benefited from the ethnic setting was Cuban horror-comedy "Juan of the Dead." Dutch splatter-comedy has gory action although zombie blood is green. The oddball characters are quite fun.  Aziz is the regular good guy who has a goofy brother Mo. Kim is a tough and gorgeous lady cop. Nolan gets his fingers stuck in bowling ball, but finds it a good weapon to smash zombie heads. Jeffrey on the other hand prefers using highly unpractical weapons.

Even less practical weapon than it seems

Zombie playground

The Kebab-guys the Barachi's (Yesser Roshdy and Iliass Ojja) are kick-ass but why on-earth they had a tame zombie in their trunk? Who cares, it was still a funny scene. The jumpy transitions leave some things open, but the plot itself treads on the familiar territory. The Dutch setting, weird humour and the absurdity of the situations spice up the story and make it fun to watch although it often feels nodding too much to the other similar films. Some Dutch celebrities appear: Dutch singer Ben Saunders has a bad day and Dutch newscaster Jan de Hoop is impersonated by imitator Carlo Boszhard.

The Barachi's

Ben Saunders

Rating: Good

Starring: Yahya Gaier, Mimoun Ouled Radi, Gigi Ravelli, Sergio Hasselbaink, Uriah Arnhem, Noel Deelen, Nadia Poeschmann, Carlo Boszhard, Yesser Roshdy, Iliass Ojja, Frans van Deursen, Kees Boot, Wart Kamps, Tim Kamps, Loek Peters, Michiel Romeyn, Edo Brunner, Remy Bonjasky, Rik Sinkeldam, Ben Saunders, Kenan Raven, Patrick Neumann, Theo Struijk, Isabel Toren, Wouter Braaf, Jan Doense, Bernd Neunzling 

Directors: Martijn Smits, Erwin van den Eshof

Movie Review: Nice Guys

The Nice Guys
Misty Mountains, Bloom, Lipsync Productions, Nice Guys, Silver Pictures, Waypoint Entertainment, USA, 2016. 

Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) is a bruiser for hire and Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a jaded private detective in the 1970s Los Angeles. Adult film star Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio) crashes her car and dies. Girl named Amelia (Margaret Qualley) knows something about Misty's death. Holland is hired by Misty's aunt do find Amelia. Jackson is fooled by Amelia to motivate Holland to leave her alone. But it does not get easy for Jackson either as some crooks also search for Amelia and beat him up. They even kill his gold fish. Unacceptable! So Jackson realizes that Amelia is in danger and hires Holland to find her. 

Jackson

Holland and Holly

Amelia

Unsolved murders seem to pop around every corner. The investigations of the duo get dangerous and soon a feared hitman John Boy (Matt Bomer) steps in. Also politician Judith Kuttner (Kim Basinger) and her assistant Tally (Yaya DaCosta) have an offer to the Nice Guys.

Judith Kuttner

Tally

"Lethal Weapon" and "The Last Boy Scout" writer Shane Black wrote and directed a neo-noir comedy set in the 1970s. The popular culture then had innocent entertainment as "The Waltons" and porn flicks like "Deep Throat" and some humour is found from the conflict of the two worlds. Crowe/Gosling duo works well. Jackson is the heavy, taking care of fighting. Holland is the brains, well brains and brains. Holland thinks he is a smart detective, but he is constantly misquoting, accident-prone and rather stumbles upon clues than finds them. He is quite different from the cool characters Gosling usually plays. Holland's daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) brings the moral spine to the misadventures of the cynical men in corrupt world. Still the ending feels pointless, and there is a feeling of origin story.  It would not be a wonder if some sequel for the duo was made some day.

Rating: Good

Starring: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Yaya DaCosta, Keith David, Beau Knapp, Lois Smith, Murielle Telio, Gil Gerard, Daisy Tahan, Kim Basinger, Jack Kilmer, Lance Valentine Butler, Ty Simpkins, Cayla Brady, Tammi Arender, Rebecca Dalton Rusk, Terence Rosemore, John L. Morris, Michelle Rivera, Nathaniel 'Nate' Scott, Amy Goddard, Frank Mottek, Joanne Spracklen, Greg Lindsay, Maddie Compton, J. Todd Anderson, Meredith Berg, Lauren Marini, Ward Roberts, Ryan Powers, Lauren Bair, Zarah Kulczycki, Hana Yuka Sano, Marvin Ross, Rachele Brooke Smith, Adriana Karras, Milo Wesley, Marilyn Chen, Matthew Warzel, Jordan Hairston, Angela Everhart, Joshua Hoover, Yvonne Zima, Lexi Johnson, Chloe Hurst, Gary Weeks, Charles Green, Gary Wolf, Hannibal Buress, Steve Wilder, Garrett Carpenter, Hank Quillen, Michael Beasley, Dominic Bagarozzi, Karrueche Tran, Carson Meyer

Director: Shane Black

Movie Review: Wyrmwood

Wyrmwood a.k.a Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
Screen Australia, Roache-Turner Brothers, Guerilla Films, Australia, 2014.

Aboriginal Benny (Leon Burchill) and his brothers (Damion Hunter, Alfred Coolwell) went to forest for a little hunting. The other brother turned into a zombie and the other one died. Handyman Barry's (Jay Callagher) family became victims after zombies came in for a midnight snack. Barry's goth sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey) was filming artsy photos when rest of the crew became zombies. She is abducted by crazy Doctor (Berynn Schwerdt) who clearly enjoys his job too much.

Benny

Barry

On the road they meet some helpful people, most of whom quickly become zombie-food. Together with Mechanic Frank (Keith Agius) they build a vehicle that runs with unusual power source. Frank believes that the day of reckoning has come. Saving Barry's sister is what keeps the men going.

The Doctor is in

Frank

Common zombie

The debut film of the Roache-Turner brothers has energetic zombie-mayhem with Mad Max influences, makeshift armour and trucks from hell. The story shares similar twisted sense of humour as Peter Jackson's and Sam Raimi's early movies. In Australia they like beer but when you take beer from the freezer, watch for the zombie. He's chilling in there. It is not only amusing zombie-slaying as it has also some tragic and horrific turns as with the backstory of Barry shows. Brooke's character leaves a better impression than Milla Jovovich in the latest "Resident Evil" films. The script has couple of novel ideas such as using fumes emitted by zombies as fuel. Although the zombie genre is saturated, "Wyrmwood" is a fun ride and despite the low budget the production values are good. It became an instant cult classic and a sequel TV-series is on the production.

Rating: Good 

Starring: Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Keith Agius, Berynn Schwerdt, Luke McKenzie, Cain Thompson, Damian Dyke, Yure Covich, Catherine Terracini, Meganne West, Beth Aubrey, Sheridan Harbridge, Damion Hunter, Alfred Coolwell, Ellen Brooke Williams, Adam Penklis, Ellie Poussot, Brendan Byrne, Craig Bourke, John Michael Burdon, Aaron Collins, Clayton Galipo, Dane Hallett, Daniel Martin, Tom Matthews, Simon Mak Murrell, Melvin Okoronkwo, Justen Petch, Jesse Rowles, Adam Sanders, Deborah Joyce 

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner