Off with your head

A British horror flick, oh no, what could be worse? Low production values, B-list actors, and corny scarey bits? Well, yes, but in fact this is a surprisingly good, and at times surprisingly scarey, horror which delivers shocks and laughs at equal pace. A team-building exercise in a Bavarian wood goes tits-up when members of the crew start to have bits chopped off, and there’s even a back story to explain why the locals are not so friendly towards staff from a weapons company. You’ll be relieved when you get to the end, and some of it is very weird, but a good horror that should have got more attention.

World War II Epic

It’s fascinating how, as the generations have grown up and reassessed the Second World War, different stories rise to the surface and are told which bring a new take on the history-telling. One generation could do nothing but tell stories of heroes and victorious allies against the axis of evil (ring any bells in modern Republican politics?!). Another generation can still tell stories of its heroes, but this time the villains are not only the enemy to be conquered (who are in fact only doing the job), but also the corrupt commanders and spin-doctors of their own armies. Clint Eastwood enters this latter territory with this film, in fact one of two which he made to tell the story of one of the most famous images of World War II – soldiers holding up the stars and stripes victoriously on a battle field. The film is well produced, and masterfully raises all the major moral questions that come with war. The lines between good and bad are blurred, and the after-effects of conflict are a horrible legacy. Perhaps the film is slightly over-done and over-anxious to be virtuous, but that seems to be a temptation Eastwood falls prey to in many of his movies. Nevertheless, well worth the effort.

Yuk!

Ok, there’s funny horror that makes you giggle, there’s sarcastic horror that takes the fun out of other horror, and there’s scarey horror that makes you jump. This is a completely different category though – sick! The mind that comes up with these ideas has seriously been on too much caffeine and other less legal substances. The evil character is on his last legs and has an assistant who is continuing the tradition of putting people in horrific predicaments where they have to choose death or nasty consequences – burn your hand in a bottle of acid in order to free yourself from a rib-cracking death machine, for example. The gore level is very high, but surprisingly the twist in the end and the whole construction of the narrative (yes, it does have quite a good story) is well thought out. Don’t watch if you prefer your heroines not to have their heads exploded by a dynamite collar!

Rats in the kitchen

These digital cartoons, primarily for children but written so well with adults in mind, just get better and better. Oh no there’s a rat in the kitchen – cue for a song, I think. But he’s a rat who has the talents of a master chef, and when teamed up with a witless kitchen hand who needs a break, there’s a recipe for fun, mayhem, true love, and discovering how important friends are in life (in true slushy Hollywood cartoon style). Brilliantly executed, full of laughs, and multi-layered for both adults and kids, another winner.

Der Untergang

The last three days of a dictator’s life, one of the most hated and vilified men in history – how to make a film about this subject, without being false or tokenistic. Well, this film managed to achieve such a task, amazingly. A German production with subtitles, it is initially taken through the perspective of one of Hitler’s secretaries who is successful in securing a job with the Fuhrer which will see her witness his last days through to his suicide in the Berlin bunker. Whilst much of the dialogue between Hitler, his generals, the key SS characters, and the other staff in Berlin is conjecture, the story is well based historically, and follows the main characters until the Russians take the city. When the film was released it took a fair amount of criticism fort painting Hitler in a sympathetic light. However, that certainly has to be its main achievement. In human history it is all too easy to label something as evil and abhorrent, ignoring the fact that Hitler was indeed human. Here is a man, still full of the most awful prejudices and theories, facing his world collapsing, and attempting to maintain his hatred towards the end. He has no choice but to take his own life, whilst those around him are constantly faced with the most terrible moral decisions. A great achievement, but you’ll need a couple of hours of decent attention span to benefit from the movie. Superb.