Citadel

This week in the corner we will take a look a little indie Irish movie called Citadel.  This is an interesting movie if you can suspend your belief for about 80 minutes for what you watching.  But if you have been keeping up with this blog you may remember that I will be looking at movies that may be a bit polarizing in their content.  I can see where you could really love this movie or really be bored with it.  But that is the fun! Citadel starts in an apartment building with the main character Tommy and his pregnant wife.  Tommy leaves his wife at the door to their apartment to take bags outside for their trip to the hospital.  Upon returning he is caught in the elevator and witnesses his wife attacked by what seems to be 3 children.  Once Tommy gets out of the elevator his wife has been stabbed with a needle.  Tommy rushes her to the hospital and the doctors are able to save Tommy's baby, but after some time in a coma, Tommy's wife dies.  This sets the stage for the rest of the movie.  Fast forward nine months later and Tommy is a single father and suffers from a serious case of agoraphobia which is basically having constant anxiety of places that can put you in danger and overall panic attacks.  Tommy becomes a prisoner in his own home because of his anxiety and holes up in his apartment all stemming from witnessing the events of murdered wife.  Adding to his stress and anxiety is the fact that he is stalked and haunted by the same feral children that attacked his wife months ago.  If you have ever dealt with panic attacks or extreme anxiety it is very easy to relate to Tommy and the need to escape where he lives, but being so overcome by fear that can't.  All the while doing his best to raise his 9 month old daughter.  The scenes with the feral children are extremely creepy.  Especially in the final act of the movie when they start to play a much larger part to story.  They are almost zombie like.  They hunt in packs and are ruthless to their victims.  They also have a shriek that will give you chills.  I won't spoil why they attack people or what is behind their savage nature but as with most horror movies, there is an underlying social aspect to the movie.  Tommy's character lives in an area of town that is being rejuvenated.  A very poor area almost like what we would call the projects here in the US.  A rejuvenation project is when the government comes in and cleans up the area and in many ways forces the poor to move elsewhere.  The closest thing that I can think of in our country is gentrification.  This movie clearly has a message of poverty, class systems, and the social and economic ramifications of these problems on our planet.  The feral children in the movie are just a representation of these problems regardless of how the director chooses to explain their behavior within the context of the story of the movie.  Overall Citadel has some pretty scary moments and great characters towards the end.  This movie can be streamed instantly on Netflix.

Take a chance on this movie and let me know what you think in the comments below.  Also be sure to sign up with your email below so you can get notifications on when this blog is updated.    Next time I will be writing about a movie that is generating a lot of buzz amongst horror fans...Mimesis!!!

Hemlock Grove

First off, there are some changes on my blog for this week.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the page and input your email, you will receive email updates whenever I post something new!  This week in the corner we are going to switch gears again and take a look at something a little different.  I am going to write about the new television series that is exclusive to Netflix called Hemlock Grove.  This series is created and developed by Eli Roth.  Eli Roth has developed quite a bit of fame in the horror genre without ever really making an iconic movie.  He did direct Cabin Fever which is creepy and gross(and pretty good) and he also did the polarizing Hostel, which in a lot of ways was responsible for the horror sub-genre known as torture porn.  With Hemlock Grove, Roth is doing something different entirely.  There is quite a bit of gore in certain scenes and there is some scares and spooks but this series is more about the town and people who live in it.  The show begins in episode one with the murder of a teenage girl and the ensuing mystery that follows.  When the body of the girl is found we are initially led to believe that she was attacked and killed by an animal of some sorts instead of just some sadistic killer.  You can probably tell from the one sheet above that werewolves are involved and all of the supernatural fun that comes with them.  If you are worried (or excited) that this show is jumping on the success of Twilight, this is hardly the same thing.  In fact, this show in many ways is trying desperately to recreate the aura of the early 90's cult masterpiece Twin Peaks.  Both of these shows start out with the murder of a teenage girl and the who dunnit that follows, but both shows really focus on all of the quirks and oddities of the various towns folk and there are definitely some odd ones in Hemlock Grove.  I don't believe that this show achieves quite the same vibe as Twin Peaks, mostly because no one can do what David Lynch does, but it definitely creates more creepiness and discomfort through its characters than it does with werewolves and murders.  Those are merely a backdrop that allows us to get a close up look at the people of Hemlock Grove and what makes them tick throughout the show.  The bigger question I would like to pose, is about what Netflix is doing with this show.  This is the second big show to be released all at once exclusively with Netflix.  The first being House of Cards with Kevin Spacey.  Netflix is also bringing back the wildly popular Arrested Development for its fourth season.  Not only that, but Netflix releases every episode at once, so viewers can technically watch all 13 episodes in one sitting.  They don't have to wait for a week for new episode and they don't have to sit through commercials while they watch them.  I believe that this could be the beginning of a new generation of television the same way Napster and iTunes changed the way we listen to music.  Consumers are being able more and more to watch their favorite shows through places like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.  They are able to skip through commercials with DVRs and paid subscriptions to TV services.  House of Cards has already been hugely successful for Netflix and created almost 2 million new subscribers since that show was released.  If Hemlock Grove proves to be just as successful Netflix will only continue to create new content. Eventually people are going to start to look at their $100 a month TV bill for Comcast or Directv and start to question whether they should subscribe to 2-3 services like Hulu and Netflix for about about $8 each and get all of the TV they want for a fraction of the price.  Eventually major cable networks and these huge cable providers are going to have to look at how they do business to continue to compete with these streaming services.  I think the only thing holding back a mass exodus from cable and satellite providers are the sports networks like ESPN or NFL network.  Currently there isnt really a way to watch sports live through Roku box or Google TV.  But if these networks ever strike a deal with a service like Netflix or Hulu, then there will be a television revolution that will change the way most people consume media as we know it.

I know I didn't really write too much about horror this week, but Hemlock Grove is a show that has its hand in so many different genres not only in substance but as a television show in general that it is an important stepping stone in what could be the way we watch TV in the next 5 years.

If you end up watching Hemlock Grove tell me what you think in the comments.  If you think TV is on the precipice of change let me know that as well!

Next week I will be back to basics and write about a crazy movie called The Citadel!! This flick has feral children.  Please subscribe with your email below and check back in next week!