Black Snake Moan: 

Directed by Craig Brewer, who is famous for 2005's Hustle and Flow, Black Snake Moan is a drama fixed in a small town in Mississippi. It is a film of overcoming your problems. The plot circulates around the three main characters Lazarus, Rae, and Ronnie. All three of these characters have issues that they deal with throughout the film. This movie is a fantastic psychological drama based around Blues music, and a girl with an addiction to sex. Christina Ricci plays her role as Rae effortlessly, so much to the point of self-criticism. She believed that the way the movie was marketed was potentially exploiting women. After viewing the film, it is easy to see how she would come to such a conclusion. Rae is a character who comes across as simply what some would call sexually deviant. There is much more to her though. In her sinful and sexual anguish, there is promise of decency within. Lazarus see's this. Lazarus is a blues man living in the country on his own farm. A man of faith who has alcohol and faith issues himself. Samuel L Jackson is one of my favorite actors because of how well he makes his characters his own. So it came to no surprise when he seemed as if he was born to play Laz. These two characters collide and bounce off of each other so well. My favorite scenes were the ones with serious dialogue between Rae and Laz. Ronnie is a member of the Tennessee National Guard that has a problem with anxiety attacks. He is shipped off in the beginning of the film, to Rae's discontent. It seems that once Ronnie was shipped off, Rae's addiction got worse. So much in fact, that she is put into a situation of being beaten into a short coma and left for dead on the side of the road. Laz finds her, and thus begins the clashing. Lazarus see's more inside of Rae, and tries to break her of the sexual addiction that constantly haunts her. The more of I watched the film, the more I realized that the true theme was about finding something inside yourself to hang onto when your sorrows eat away at your soul. Overcoming the tribulations you suffer through, just to see the other side. Overall, I would highly recommend this film. It is sad that the marketers made the film come off as only a tale of sexual eye candy. People should really give it a chance, as I almost overlooked it at face value. You could say that the theme of this film overcame what the marketers determined it to be. I suppose that is what great screenplay/cinematography can do for a movie such as this.

The Evil Dead - A Film Review

This week I chose to review: The Evil Dead directed and written by Sam Raimi. This film has a huge cult following, as well as a reboot coming out April 5th. This is one of my favorite horror films in recent memory. It originially released on October 15, 1981 and it shows. The use of props, fake blood, and a Super 8mm camera helps explain the film's roughly estimated $375,000 budget. The film's format is blow-up 35mm. Sam Raimi was only 20 years old at the time and had a very difficult time finding investors, eventually to the point of begging. Much of the crew was inexperienced, which made for unintentionally funny film. There was so much inexperience in fact that Raimi would run through the woods with his camera, strapped to a wood log, to capture the first person perspective of a demon running through the woods. This "horror comedy" played with many of the horror genre's stereotypes to become what it intended to. A general plot summary for this film sounds something like this: Five college students from Michigan State drive into the hill's of Tennessee to enjoy their spring break vacation in a cabin. The setting of the cabin in the woods helps to carry the overbearing feeling of loneliness. Upon their arrival, a sense of eeriness comes over them. They find a book entitled: The Book of the Dead, as well as private recordings from an unknown. They begin to be attacked by the forces of evil that they have summoned from reading this book. Bruce Campbell plays Ash,  a stereotypical college student protagonist. With him are his girlfriend Cheryl, and friends Scotty, Linda, Shelly. I do not see much of a serious theme, much because this is not much of a serious movie. It is meant to be entertaining and gory. I think much of the reason that this film does want it intends to so well is that it does not take itself seriously at all. I believe that there are two parts to this film: The first half, which involves the build up of the demon attacks and the second half being the psychological battle within Ash.  Sam Raimi knew what he was doing, and he knew how ridiculous it was. I feel that great directing comes from the director executing on exactly what he is intending. The mood of this film bounces around like a beach ball at a Nickelback concert. One moment, there is sheer terror and horror overcoming you as Ash is chased by a demon zombie, the next being the hilarity of a girl being "raped" by a bunch of trees. Raimi more than delivers with an unspeakably huge cult following as well as being cited among the greatest horror films of all time.