Galaxy of Horrors
We seem to be hitting quite a few anthologies so far this month. I tend to like them because sometimes the limits of a shorter film makes for more interesting storytelling, and if you kind of hate one section, there's always a chance that something you like better will be coming along. (This does not always hold true, and if you are watching something truly dreadful, sometimes it's better to nope out entirely sooner rather than later. LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES!)
This, however, despite the cheesy low budget title screen you see up there, was not dreadful. It was heavy on the dudes (About four shorts in I was wanting to see women characters who weren't naked or dead. I did eventually get my wish.) I'm going to go with the same format I did for "Tales of Halloween" on this one and share a few thoughts about each short. I should say that I did enjoy the connecting story here, simple but effective. (And who can't relate to frantically trying to remember a password, even if the consequences aren't life and death?)
Eden: In the written word, "I assassinated the president when I was eight years old," would be a shocking a compelling beginning. In film? Show don't tell, show don't tell. It's a visual medium, for chrissakes. I felt the biggest weakness of this very nihilistic dystopian film was that it gave away far too much far too soon with the opening narration.
Iris: Takes the "out of control, all-knowing AI" trope and turns it on its head. Take that, asshole.
Flesh Computer: Weird. Uncomfortable. Apparently some dudes really will try to stick their dick in just about anything.
Pathos: Oooh boy. This is the one that was disturbing in that "burrows into your brain" way that some good horror does. Nothing really new, thematically, that we haven't seen in Sci-fi many times over, but done effectively and well. There's a reason that we return to some ideas over and over. Environmental destruction, a desire for mindless entertainment, the destructive forces of capitalism? Yeah.
Eveless: Ugh. just ugh. I guess if you're really super into mpreg in your fanfic you might enjoy this? Husband got a kick out of the ridiculousness of some of the "surgical instruments" on the table. I was mostly bored. Wow. All the women are dead. How original.
They're All Going To Die in Space: Well done, interesting enough twist. I expected it to be a little bit more interesting with a ship named "The Tantalus." The ending shot definitely worked thematically, the announcement of the ship's computer took away some of the ambiguity that would have made it really compelling.
Entity: Pretty and trippy. Unfortunately, not much else. Some of the visuals reminded me pretty heavily of Stargate's wormhole animations.
Kingz: Meh. Kind of felt like an extended excuse for an HR Geiger-esque monster with a flimsy morality tale attached.
There were a couple of (annoying) tropes throughout that we noticed:
Sci Fi = PIXELS!
Sci Fi also = COLD BLUE LIGHTING
Seizure inducing light flashes = SUSPENSE BUILDING AND SCARY! (or the filmmakers think they are, anyway. They pretty much read as an easy way to set up a cheap jump scare to the audience.)
This, however, despite the cheesy low budget title screen you see up there, was not dreadful. It was heavy on the dudes (About four shorts in I was wanting to see women characters who weren't naked or dead. I did eventually get my wish.) I'm going to go with the same format I did for "Tales of Halloween" on this one and share a few thoughts about each short. I should say that I did enjoy the connecting story here, simple but effective. (And who can't relate to frantically trying to remember a password, even if the consequences aren't life and death?)
Eden: In the written word, "I assassinated the president when I was eight years old," would be a shocking a compelling beginning. In film? Show don't tell, show don't tell. It's a visual medium, for chrissakes. I felt the biggest weakness of this very nihilistic dystopian film was that it gave away far too much far too soon with the opening narration.
Iris: Takes the "out of control, all-knowing AI" trope and turns it on its head. Take that, asshole.
Flesh Computer: Weird. Uncomfortable. Apparently some dudes really will try to stick their dick in just about anything.
Pathos: Oooh boy. This is the one that was disturbing in that "burrows into your brain" way that some good horror does. Nothing really new, thematically, that we haven't seen in Sci-fi many times over, but done effectively and well. There's a reason that we return to some ideas over and over. Environmental destruction, a desire for mindless entertainment, the destructive forces of capitalism? Yeah.
Eveless: Ugh. just ugh. I guess if you're really super into mpreg in your fanfic you might enjoy this? Husband got a kick out of the ridiculousness of some of the "surgical instruments" on the table. I was mostly bored. Wow. All the women are dead. How original.
They're All Going To Die in Space: Well done, interesting enough twist. I expected it to be a little bit more interesting with a ship named "The Tantalus." The ending shot definitely worked thematically, the announcement of the ship's computer took away some of the ambiguity that would have made it really compelling.
Entity: Pretty and trippy. Unfortunately, not much else. Some of the visuals reminded me pretty heavily of Stargate's wormhole animations.
Kingz: Meh. Kind of felt like an extended excuse for an HR Geiger-esque monster with a flimsy morality tale attached.
There were a couple of (annoying) tropes throughout that we noticed:
Sci Fi = PIXELS!
Sci Fi also = COLD BLUE LIGHTING
Seizure inducing light flashes = SUSPENSE BUILDING AND SCARY! (or the filmmakers think they are, anyway. They pretty much read as an easy way to set up a cheap jump scare to the audience.)
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