MOVIE REVIEW: Everyone's On A Death Roll In "Rogue"

"Rogue" (2007)

Running time: 99 mins
Directed, written, and produced by Greg McLean
Starring: Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell, Sam Worthington, John Jarratt and Mia Wasikowska.


Summary: A handful of tourists looking for adventure get more than they bargained for when they cross paths with a massive man-eating beast in this thriller. Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) is a writer for an American travel magazine who has been assigned to write a story about vacationing in rugged Northern Australia. Pete signs up for a cruise along a river that's home to a large crocodile population, with tough but pretty Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) serving as guide. Pete soon finds he's roughing it in the Aussie wilds with an eclectic variety of travelers, including Russell (John Jarratt), who is dealing with the death of his wife; Simon (Stephen Curry), a tactless amateur photographer; and Allen (Geoff Morrell), a member of the British upper crust making the trip with his ailing spouse (Heather Mitchell) and their rambunctious daughter (Mia Wasikowska). While Kate's former husband, who also works on the river, makes a pest of himself in the early stages of the voyage, the travelers soon find they have more to worry about when their craft is attacked by a massive 25-foot crocodile, who is just clever enough to know how to trap its prey before enjoying them for dinner.

☣☣☣

Review: So it's been a looong time since I last posted a review here on my horror movie blog, The Freak Show. I put this blog in hiatus while i was working on my other blog which was dedicated to Filipino films. But after 563 days (1 year, 6 months, 17 days to be exact), I am finally back. And this 2007 Australian indie creature feature is the first horror movie that I have watched and will be writing about. So what makes this Aussie horror flick a stand out among other creature feature films that I've seen? Well, to start off, it's got a great set of characters for the story to revolve around with. You see, most of these creature feature flicks (Syfy anyone?) usually don't spend enough effort to create believable characters. Instead, they go for the stereotypes and other countless horror movie stock characters.

But Greg McLean (of Wolf Creek fame) focuses a lot of it's time introducing it's set of characters which, mind you, are far from your usual set of horror movie stereotypes. Each one has their own attitudes and background, plus they were written in a realistic and believable style. The way they talk, the way they act, and the way they respond to the situation are pretty much the same way normal people would react. Aside from the great supporting cast who did a really great job of nailing their characters, I also like to give praise to the film's two leads, Michael Vartan (who plays Pete McKell) and Radha Mitchell (Kate Ryan) for their outstanding portrayal of their roles. and oh, how can I forget Sam Worthington as Neil who, despite of being a jerk, was one of the characters that i was hoping to get out of this story alive. But yeah, shit happens, right?

One of the best things about this film was it's great amount of suspense. We don't actually get to see the massive 25-foot killer croc until almost 3/4 of the film, where we get to marvel at it's glory. This technique, which was proven effective in films like Jaws (1975) and Alien (1979), was used extensively in this movie, making us play around with our imagination on how the actual croc looks like. And once it's finally show in full view, it's one of the best looking crocodiles I have seen on creature feature flicks like this. It's quite terrifying to look at. Greg McLean did a pretty good job in building up the tone and atmosphere of the film. It's full of dread and suspense, especially during the part when they tried to go across the river through a zip line, reminiscent of that final act of Piranha 3D (2010). And that one on one battle of Pete versus the 25-foot killer croc during the film's final moment is undeniably breathtaking and will take you at the edge of your seat. Seriously, there was one instance when I had to cover my eyes because of too much suspense. It's that good.

So if there is one killer croc movie you have to watch before you die, this is it.

💀💀💀💀💀 out of 5 skulls.

Cinema One Originals 2016 Special : SALVAGE

A found footage that follows a producer and her news crew as they follow a story of aswang killings in Cagayan De Oro. But as the day continue, they discover the disturbing truth behind these gory murders as they get lost in the jungle and faces an otherwordly encounter.

✰✰✰✰ out of 5 stars. To start with, this is not the very first found footage film from the Philipines that I know. If I'm not mistaken, there was another one that came before this entitled The Diplomat Hotel (2013). But this found footage attempt from Sherad Anthony Sanchez looks much more promising and effectively uses the format to it's advantage. The film is one of the entries from last year's Cinema One Originals. When I first heard about it, I was excited to see it. Unfortunately, the film only had a very limited screening that time and I wasn't able to catch it. This year, it was given a screening by the film festival so I immediately grabbed the chance to watch it.

To be honest, I have never seen a Filipino movie this weird before. Yes, the word WEIRD is creeping out of every scene and every plot twist of the movie. It features some sort-of-cult, some alien like beings that light up in the darkness of the night, some crazy villagers, killer soldiers and all sort's of otherwordly stuff that really blew me away. It was a total mindfuck. And that it what made the experince so memorable. The film doesn't offer a realistic plot as it focuses more on giving the viewers an unusual movie experience. It keeps on putting us in all sorts of dangerous paths and even though our minds are already telling us that everything that's happening on screen is too absurb already, we just kept going along for the ride. Again, I havenever seen a Filipino movie like this. And I'm pretty sure that the rest of you who have seen it will agree.

The acting was okay, although one of the characters, Barbie, will definitely pull out some laughs (intentional) with his/ her campy acting. Jessy Mendiola seems like the perfect fit for the lead of this film, alongside JC De Castro who isn't given much screen time, probably because he is the camera man in the film and he hides behind the lens most of the time. The script was mostly realistic, but as the movie delves deeper into it's out of this world proceedings, you just wont care about the script anymore. You're just staying for the ride.

All in all, it was definitely one of my most unforgettable movie experiences this year. A clever, total mindfuck.

Directed by Sherad Anthony Sanchez, starring Jessy Mendiola, JC De Vera, Barbie Capacio, Karl Medina and Joel Saracho

Cinema One Originals 2016 Special : 2COOL 2BE 4GOTTEN

Felix is a friendless achiever in high school whose life changes after the arrival of the half-American Snyder brothers, entangling him in their dark ambitions.

✰✰✰✰ out of 5 stars. A dark thriller drama hiding behind the looks and feels of a coming-of-age teen movie, 2COOL 2BE 4GOTTEN is a debut film that it's director, Petersen Vargas, should be proud of. It's leads, 

Khalil Ramos as Felix Salonga, Jameson Blake as Maximillian Snyder and Ethan Salvador as Magnus Snyder, not only has the looks but also the talent to portray these extremely complicated characters and bring them to life. Khalil Ramos, a young budding actor who have already showed some promise in his acting in films like Erik Matti's Honor Thy Father (2015) has proven that he has the gift to succeed in this business. From the movement of his body, to those long, quiet stares from his eyes to the movement of his lips, he immortalizes his character and makes the audience believe that he is real. One of my most favorite scene features his character, as he faces one of the two Snyder boys, as he screams "Putangi-ina mo!" (You motherfucker!). Jameson Blake, an actor, model and performer, also proves that he has the acting skills to share to the world. He manages to bring the angst and attitude that his character requires. Ethan Salvador was also able to give life to his character, thanks to his simple yet very effective approach. He makes us see him as that guy next door that you can't help but like.

The screenplay, written by one of Philippines' top director and writer, Jason Paul Laxamana, manages to create interesting and realistic characters and situations, although the story stretches too far from reality as it reaches the end. Like his previous work, the dark comedy film Mercury Is Mine (which is my most favorite Filipino film of the year) his script tackles fascination with the Foreign race, particularly the Americans. Director Petersen Vargas' direction is nothing but outstanding, creating an attractive coming of age drama that pulls us into falling for these characters, then pushes us deeper into a darker path. It bravely tackles homosexuality, molestation of the youth, murder and other topics that we rarely see in mainstream films today.

For those fans of Filipino cinema, this indie film is definitely a must-see. This film is an outstanding examination of the youth nowadays. It's not just some girl's eye-candy or some cliched coming of age flick. It's something weird. And being weird is what makes it a unique and mind-blowing experience. 

Starring Khalil Ramos as Felix Salonga, Jameson Blake as Maximillian Snyder and Ethan Salvador as Magnus Snyder, directed by Petersen Vargas, written by Jason Paul Laxamana and produced by Alemberg Ang and Cinema One Originals, an official entry to this year’s Cinema One Originals Film Festival.

Horror Diary #4 : Summer Camp

American counselors working at a Spanish summer camp fight to survive when a rage-inducing virus infects them.

✰✰✰ out of 5 stars. At first, the film appears like a random horror movie about a group of twenty-somethings in a weird place distant from home. It really does sound a lot like those countless horror movies that we've watched before. But this Spanish set horror pic gives us a unique take on the killer virus movie that has been done a thousand times, albeit with different results.

It gives us some characters that we actually care about, particularly Diego Boneta's character, which was advertised in the trailer as the first one to get infected, yet it turns out that things are different in the movie itself. The rest of the cast offers some fine acting chops adding more quality to the pic. Director Alberto Marini manages to leave the audiences with some nice thrills,with some jump scares here and there. Nice production values completes this slick horror pic that is definitely worth a look from horror afficionados.

Directed by Alberto Marini, Starring Diego Boneta, Maiara Walsh, Jocelin Donahue