[REC] 4: Apocalypse Trailer – UPDATED

The young reporter Ángela is rescued from the building and taken to an oil tanker to be examined. However, it is unbeknown to the soldiers that she carries the seed of the mysterious demonic virus.
Director:Jaume Balagueró
Writers:Jaume Balagueró, Manu Díez
Stars: Manuela Velasco, Héctor Colomé, María Alfonsa Rosso

Being a huge fan of REC 1&2 (I didn’t say 3), I have been literally frothing at the mouth every time a tidbit of news, teaser poster or in this case trailer is released. Now the trailer is pretty much just a mash-up of the previous films; minus the trainwreck that was Genesis, it does whet the appetite for some blood soaked chaos. Doesn’t it! Here’s a bloody pic from the set and the “Trailer”. UPDATE new official trailers added! Check it.

---

---

---

Nice!

Zombie Lake – or – AquaZombieVampires From Physics Defying Lake/Pool

Zombie Lake. 1981

In a small village, somewhere in France, German soldiers, killed and thrown into the lake by the Resistance during WW II, come back.
Director: Jean Rollin
Writers: Julián Esteban (story), Jesús Franco
Stars: Howard Vernon, Pierre-Marie Escourrou, Anouchka
Runtime: 90 min
Release Date:
13 May 1981 (France)
“God help us if they rise again!”

Zombie Lake A.K.A “AquaZombieVampires From Physics Defying Lake/Pool vs. The Strange BuggedEyed Mayor in the Castle Down the Road”

……I cannot believe that I sat through this movie literally glued to the tube??!! But I was; and more so, I had to pee the entire time, and just could get up to head to the bathroom!!!!! The twist; the turns; the boobs, and the 70’s unshaven volleyball/basketball girlies only would sway me to give this flick a 9 outta 10, but it wasn’t that at all! I want to cling a glass with the editing team!! Their lack of compassion, heart, drive, and film education really put the film in a league of it’s own…. I mean lets face it, the cut-away’s, disappearing in an instant zombies in the lake, the pool walls and store bought aquarium plants really added some flare to the lake/pool scenes!! I couldn’t wrap my head around the zombies reaching up from the depths of the lake/pool when the teenieboppers were frolicking knee deep at the shore. I flunked high school physics, but my keen sense of this ain’t fucking rightness kicked into overdrive when the girls were swimming in about 10feet of crystal clear water at the very same time they were knee deep in what seemed to be the most disgusting lake I have every seen!!!

Baise-Moi

Baise-moi. 2000

Two young women, marginalised by society, go on a destructive tour of sex and violence. Breaking norms and killing men – and shattering the complacency of polite cinema audiences. Baise-moi is a French film co-directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi, released in 2000. It is based on the novel by Despentes, first published in 1999.
Release date: June 28, 2000 (initial release)
Directors: Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi
DVD release date: December 18, 2001
Running time: 77 minutes
Cast: Lisa Marshall, Marc Rioufol, Ouassini Embarek, Delphine MacCarty, Estelle Isaac
Screenplay: Coralie Trinh Thi, Virginie Despentes
(Wiki)

This was an unusual flick by our friends across the pond and while I am a big fan of French horror and the new French extremity, I had a hard time with this one. Baise-Moi isn’t quite horror, it’s more of a violent crime/spree killing oddity mixed with generous amounts of hardcore porn (full penetration scenes, plenty of bj’s, masturbation, rape, and tons of male and female full frontal explicit nudity). I was quite surprised to see this one pop up on crackflix! I like my horror and I like my porn (who the hell doesn’t right?) but I don’t think they go well together. One minute I’m watching a couple of women getting nasty and the next I’m watching a guy get his head blown off, it was all really disconcerting. The plot involves a relatively good looking prostitue meeting a jaded rape victim with a background in questionable pornography and embarking on a country wide killing spree; involving numerous random victims. They drink, get high and explicitly screw their way through France with no remorse and no pity. Ya ya I know it sounds pretty cool but it just really isn’t that effective; honestly if the sex and nudity were absent from Baise-Moi I probably wouldn’t have made it through the 77 minute running time. I felt no attachment to any of the characters in the film whatsoever and didn’t seem to care one way or another what happened to either of the leads; add a weirdly awkward score into the mix and you get an inexplicably disjointed amateur-ish porn flick. If I want hardcore sex scenes I think the last census put the amount of porn sites listed worldwide at roughly 800 trillion……….. A rare miss by the french. Baise-Moi @ IMDb.

Next Up: google………

The Gerber Syndrome

The Gerber Syndrome. 2011.

“The Gerber’s Syndrome is an contagious viral disease that was discovered in Germany in 2008 and spread all over the world. It is extremely contagious, fast spreading, and deadly. This syndrome is very difficult to spot, because it’s like a normal dose of the flu, with all the subsequent symptoms that most of us are familiar with; but later, the virus affects the brain cells causing serious damage to the central nervous system. A TV crew is making a documentary about the disease and the way society is coping with it by documenting the stories of three people who are dealing with Gerber’s Syndrome: Melissa is a young girl that has been infected, Doctor Ricardi is the doctor who is following her and Luigi is a member of the CS, the security organization that has to deal with infected people. The TV crew follow the lives of this characters, becoming characters themselves since they are constantly in the action. We see how the syndrome progress in Melissa and the way her family and Doctor.”   Indastria Film.

Directors: Maxi Dejoie, Maxì Dejoie
Writers: Maxi Dejoie, Maxì Dejoie
Stars: Valentina Bartolo, Elisabetta Fischer, Pia Lanciotti
Runtime: 88 min

Rec pretty much started my love of foreign found footage horror flicks. Most of them are pretty bad, but you get the odd decent entry (nothing is coming to mind at the moment). I actually ended up posting this after surfing Youtube in search of obscure horror trailers. There really isn’t much info on this film other than what can be gleaned from the trailer. A camera crew is following some type of disease (CDC type) control unit around some foreign country investigating the spread of a wierdly named virus, The Gerber Syndrome. The Gerber Syndrome @ IMDb.

Next Up: actually find and watch this thing…..

A Serbian Film: A Quasi-Review

---

A Serbian Film. 2010.

A Serbian Film (Serbian: Српски филм / Srpski film) is a 2010 Serbian horror film and the first feature film directed by Srđan Spasojević. It tells the story of a down-on-his-luck porn star who agrees to participate in an “art film”, only to discover that he has been drafted into a snuff film.

Release date: June 11, 2010 (initial release)
Director: Srdjan Spasojevic
Running time: 110 minutes
DVD release date: October 25, 2011
Cast: Srđan Todorović, Sergej Trifunović, Slobodan Beštić, Jelena Gavrilovic
Screenplay: Aleksandar Radivojevic, Srdjan Spasojevic

I have had this film laying around for quite some time now – unwatched. I’ve read the reviews, the plot synopsis’ and the outlines enough to know this thing is a serious piece of hardcore. Which I’m familiar with, but unfortunately I bought into all the hype surrounding ASF; I think I got a little tense about this film, edgy if you will. Normally I could care less about other people’s opinions (especially critics) but for some unknown reason they all got to me on this one. The only other time I questioned watching a film based on anyone’s review was the August Underground series (which btw I have yet to watch). Is it that films of this extremely brutal nature chip away at our humanity? Is it the fear of overwhelming desensitization in the face of such horrendous possibilities? Or is it once something of this variety has been seen it cannot be unseen? All of the above I assume. A Serbian Film depicts the soul-less drudgery of sex trade workers in a gritty and brutal way. It portrays a reality where money has more value than human life.

For a film of this breed; ultra hardcore gore-horror (that is a new classification I just made up for A Serbian Film), the cinematography, sound, production values and acting were all above average. Usually you get that shaky-cam, all to clear looking, questionable acting and plot non-exsistant tripe. Well done for a film of such an extreme nature.

Srdjan Todorovic as Milos.

I was really impressed with the performance of Srdjan Todorovic as Milos; the down and out porn star alcoholic. I really felt that he desperately wanted out of the “life” but the ever present lure of the almighty dollar kept him firmly entrenched in the seedy world of pornography. Overall the cast did a decent job portraying various sleazy adult film characters with the award for biggest scumbag going to Milos brother Marko (Slobodan Bestic), a shallow corrupt cop with a penchant for hookers and an obsession with Milos’ wife (and to a lesser extent, a chronic masturbator). There was one memorable scene where he is receiving oral sex from a prostitute while watching a home video of his nephews birthday party. Whoa! Creepy wouldn’t you say. Sergej Trifunovic plays Vukmir, a rich and highly questionable ex child psychologist who now produces high concept pornography, a truly twisted and sick individual.

The sheer ultra-violence throughout A Serbian Film is brutal and extremely graphic. The numerous acts of sexual depravity are highlighted by savagery and soaked in blood. Graphic nudity, explicit sexuality, sexual fetishism, sexual violence and generally every other manner of debauchery is presented with glaring realism. Have you ever witnessed a prostitute getting repeatedly punched in the face while performing oral sex on a man, while a young girl watches with enthusiasm? No? How about watching a man get impaled through the eye socket and subsequently killed by another mans penis? These are just some of the sick and horrible ways that A Serbian Film rams it’s visceral gore drenched images down the viewers throat. Is the film every gore-hounds dream come true? No. The difficulty of some of the subject matter presented therein precludes (hopefully) any sane individual from taking enjoyment from A Serbian Film. One scene in particular was so astoundingly barbaric and horrible that even describing it here would feel like I was committing a crime. I’ve watched films with this level of gore many times and have come out unscathed, but it seems much more real and terrible when combined with human sexuality, as in A Serbian Film. I fear I haven’t escaped this film as…….intact.

When searching for meaning behind this dark vicious film one has to look hard and wade through miles blood to find it. The director and writer of A Serbian Film have both made numerous statements that the film is a commentary on the political climate of the film industry in Serbia, a look at the actions of Serbian soldiers during the Yugoslav wars and the voracious appetite of western consumerism. The meaning behind A Serbian Film (whatever that may be) gets lost in the sheer violence presented to the viewer. Director Srdjan Spasojevic had this to say.

Srpski Film is also a metaphor for our national cinema – boring , predictable and altogether unintentionally hilarious which throughout our film to some extent is commented on and subtly parodied.

A Serbian Film is a stark look at the symbiotic relationship between sex and money and desperation. Hopelessness. It is a shocking and disturbing ride not for the easily offended or the faint of heart. Ultra violent and gory. Difficult and relentless in it’s delivery of very questionable subject matter. From the frantic drug addled sex fueled blackout in the third act to a mind blowingly bleak and horrendous climax that will shatter all but the most jaded and inhuman viewer; A Serbian Film crosses every boundary without remorse. I do recommend this film, if only for curiosity’s sake. Be WARNED this film is for hardcore horror fans and cineophiles only. Don’t take your girlfriend to see this one folks. Watch this alone in a dark corner somewhere and have a scalding hot shower afterwards.

If you don’t want get pounded in the face by 110 minutes of blood spattered nastiness involving intercourse and murder then you can read it instead of viewing it. IMDb A Serbian Film synopsis.

Rec4: Apocalypse

Rec Apocalypse. 2013.

Angela Vidal, the young television reporter who entered the building with the fireman, manages to make it out alive. But what the soldiers don’t know is that she carries the seed of the strange infection. She is to be taken to a provisional quarantine facility, a high-security installation where she will have to stay in isolation for several days. An old oil tanker, miles off shore and surrounded by water on all sides, has been especially equipped for the quarantine. IMDb. I’m really stoked for the latest installment of the Rec franchise to come out, I loved Rec and Rec2. Rec3 was complete trash but by the sounds of things they are bringing things back to the original storyline. Thank god. Here’s the teaser for Rec4 Apocalypse it pretty much just re hashes the first 2 installments but it’s all there is at the moment.

Next Up: “insert funny moniker here”