All posts by bruticetamer

Silence of the Lambs

November 13, 2019 bruticetamer Leave a comment

Silence of the Lambs (1991) is a hidden character study, largely appearing to be a story of female empowerment, but more about the main serial killer’s ability to control everything while behind chains. Every camera shot is full of purpose, holding a deeper story and giving a feel of how the power setup in this world is.

A shot of Hannibal Lecter with high security

Clarice’s effort to become more than just another just another cop can be felt in every scene, along with the feeling of her trying to right the wrongs she feels she’s done. All of her scenes with Hannibal feel weighty, as she tries to be the best cop she can be, but willingly lets herself be wrapped around the doctor’s finger, despite being told not to.

Watching Lecter slowly understand Clarice more and more is more terrifying than anything. We as the audience hope for Clarice to come out on top, but every decision she makes only helps Lecter get more and more closer to freedom. Her strong trust in what Hannibal says takes her to her goal of stopping Buffalo Bill, but gets rewarded with more possible deaths. Anthony Hopkins couldn’t have been a better choice for a role with such power behind small appearances.

No villain will ever live up to the high standard that Lecter set for everyone else in the field. I never could’ve expected such a wonderful movie.

70's, Classics

Alien

November 8, 2019 bruticetamer Leave a comment

Alien (1979) is a wonderful showcase of a horror movie not needing many scares. Most of the horror is focused near the end, saving time for development for the characters, which makes the horror scenes later 10 times more tense as we actually worry for the outcome of their fate. The practical effects for a movie set so far into the future are completely seamless and impressive, especially for the time.

A shot of the completely practical effects of Alien

All of the scenes involving the alien, of which they are very few, not only barely show it in full, but also hold an impressively disgusting amount of gore, and has a sense of other worldliness, and a touch of reality, being designed after spiders and something vaguely human.

Example of the wonderful effects and design.

The designs of H. R. Giger are exceptional. Seeing the way the alien uses it’s own morphology mixed with human biology makes the alien seem more threatening, using both advantages from itself and us to hunt down and kill as many people as possible.

Overall a terrifying movie.

80's, Classics

Predator

November 6, 2019 bruticetamer Leave a comment

Predator (1987) is the perfect subversion of expectations type of movie. The typical action movie opening where people die left and right, along with the casting choice, is the perfect setup to all of the characters being torn through like mincemeat, accented with moments of a final stand that you might see in a 80’s action movie. John McTiernan is the perfect director that could’ve been picked for a movie like this, holding a few classic action movies under his belt. The length that the characters go to to stop the predator while the predator kills each man with ease help the audience understand the dread of the characters.

All characters are terrified by a the predator, which only one character saw

The predators weaknesses help establish more scenes with suspense as we wonder if the main characters can stop what they are fighting. A shot of blood, along with a scene of the predator mending the wound, helps establish the predator’s mortality, strengthened with the line by Arnold, “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”

predator's blood — One of the characters scooping up a drop of predator blood

The ending fight between Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Dutch, and the predator is a great scene leaking with symbolic undertones, of the predator being a basic predator, just trying to kill Dutch in the most direct options possible, while Dutch uses his knowledge and planning to set up multiple traps for the predator, while also not being visible to his heat vision, speaks more about human ability to adapt instead of evolve, while also being the best action scene of the movie, ending with the predators terrifying laugh.

PREDATOR, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1987, covered in mud. TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved.

80's, Classics

The Thing

November 6, 2019 bruticetamer Leave a comment

The Thing (1982) by John Carpenter is a masterpiece of many crafts. The practical effects, especially for the time, are the best from any horror movie. All of the character designs are terrifying to the core. The dedication of Rob Bottin to his craft is amazing.

example — Notice how the pod opening for the dog thing is made out of dog tongues

The way that any character can be hiding as the thing causes nearly every scene to be held with a strong tension that never releases. The decision to have the first human infected character represented as a shadow is a great way to establish that no character can be fully trusted. The subtle hints that Carpenter gives take years and an attentive eye. The impressive effects that the movie has easily make it one of the best movies of all time.

Shadow on the wall — The actor used for the shadow was not one of the main cast, but an entirely different person.