Post by penno on Mar 11, 2008 1:47:40 GMT -5
Sorry this is late, I didnt know where else to put it, so here it is;
Review of Bloody Mansion
When I sat down to read “Bloody Mansion”, I read the preview and I was quite alarmed at the similarities between “Bloody Mansion” and Saw;
“…when he arrives home he finds his family held hostage by the mysterious Jester (Murphy) and must delve into a number of metal horrors and memories to get them back or they will die. Will Tom be able to beat the physcotic Jester and get his family back or will his mental state effect he and his judgment?”
I was a little bit disappointed when I read this, as I was expecting something else. I later came back with an open mind, and started reading. The opening scenes are a huge step up from blood harmony, the detailed descriptions and attention to detail opens the film really well. However the repetition of “We see..” becomes tedious and ugly to raed. There are times in the description where you step away from that (as highlighted in red) which is good, and makes it more free flowing to read.
“We see a foreground close-up of a toothpaste bottle cap which is open. A hand picks it up out of the background and moments later, puts it back. The cap is still open. We see a close-up of a tap running. We see a close-up of a sink being filled with soapy water. Suddenly the radio starts to play a song over the following shots. We see a close-up of a towel rack. A towel is suddenly pulled off.”
The break up of the stories is a great technique, which works much better in actual movies, however it works well here to. The sense of, Amy being attacked to create a sense of her being a “victim” is clever. (However I was confused when the person came into the shed? Was that jester? If so why didn’t she show herself, or was that just for the audiences viewing?) This works so well, as the film is a “horror” movie, yet there is no real “action” in the first half of the movie. However, the story 1 sequence lets the audience know, danger looms ahead. This adds to the suspense of the film, and to great effect.
The character development is interesting. The film begins with Tom being very bitter, and the rest of the family being quite afraid, or resentful of him. His behaviour seems quite erratic and often unjustified. He is who he is, it’s not up to me to decide that, but his behaviour seemed at times illogical. I didn’t think there was enough back story into Tom’s life that would justify his behaviour to the audience. Despite the fact his mother died at Christmas, nobody would really act that way towards their family.
Amy plays the beaten wife well, however putting up with Tom much more then she should. Jess is very resentful towards Tom, understandably, and Gilly (every time I read this I thought of Adam Gilchrist lol) is just a young girl, who isn’t present much in the film.
Overall I was very perplexed by the characters and their development, as there isn’t a likeable character among them. This is very hard as the protagonist and Antagonist are both evil. This leaves the audience with nobody to relate to, feel sorry for, or generally like. As I was reading it, I was constantly annoyed by Tom’s actions, which is understandable, but there really wasn’t anybody to counter balance him. Amy may be an attempt at this, however I didn’t feel any connection with her, as she did nothing to aid herslef as she wasn’t completely helpless (which were shown that she actually did, as we see at the end).
Nonetheless, the character development and interaction is great, especially in comparison with Blood Harmony, which I was quite impressed with.
Some other various things, in areas such as dialogue that caught my attention. Many things said by Tom such as;
“what is it? I don’t really have time for idol conversation.”
Who speaks like that to their wife?
“when you stop speaking like a dog that has been shat out of a aids infested trailer trash rat.”
I felt this was out of place, and also, what grown man says that? Furthermore, some things seem forced, in a sense of, that’s not how people actually talk. Such as;
“well you done me a favour by accepting me in your life”
This line actually made me laugh, as it was a touch corny for someone to actually say. However, there was one line that caught my attention.
“I hate this bloody mansion…”
That line from Amy was very clever and well situated; I smiled when I read it. Finally, another interesting note I made was you nudity. Ever time there was a nude scene, it involved a female who’s nipple was showing. Also each time, it was due to the cold.
“Her nipples are hard and blue due to the cold”
I laughed all three times. I just felt it wasn’t necessary to elaborate on her nipple, and the reasoning as to why they were hard. Perhaps once, but not three times.
The lead up to the final scene in the house is great. The inclusion of the “story 1” scenes build great suspense into the “Bloody Mansion” showdown. However it just resembles too much of Saw. I really just couldn’t ignore it.
“Wakey, Wakey Tom. Time to play my game.”
This line is nearly exactly what is said by jigsaw, “I want to play a game”. Despite this, the way Jester interacts with Tom is great. This leads straight back to Saw however;
“Here is the rules to that little game I mentioned earlier. There are three other people in this house, besides you and your family. One person is for Amy, one person is for Jessica and the final person is for Gilly. Now if you really want your family alive then you simply have to exit this house with all three people alive and you win!”
The rules explained are very much like Saw 4. With that behind me, the final scenes showed great potential, however I feel they were to short and forced. This may be due to the fact that I was reading it, instead of watching. It just seemed over to quickly. The final scenes however reveal a stroke of original genius, The Freak. I was intrigued by the character, which added an extra element to the action scenes. Pure genius. Not only does Tom have to rescue these people from disastrous traps, he needs to contend with this crazed man trying to murder him. I also enjoyed you homage to “Halloween”.
“The Freak has reached Honey and it stands above her menacingly. The Freak tilts its head as Honey continues to plead. The camera shows a fall portrait shot of The Freak standing over Honey with its head tilted.”
This scene made me smile, despite a fine line of plagiarism being addressed. The final scene involving the Freak was well written. Lorenzo the punk kid getting slaughtered trying be smarter then Tom, a nice touch. The closet scene however confused me a bit. A nail gun being on the floor I felt was a bit convenient for our now hero/protagonist. I couldn’t help but think, who keeps a nail gun in their closet?
Despite resembling Saw a little to much for my liking, you successfully included the element that make those movies so great, the twist at the end. Billy playing the part of Jester was a stroke of genius. I didn’t see that coming at all. Perhaps Amy, but not Billy being involved. This was a fitting end to a great movie. The involvement of detective Malice was a nice touch at the, leaving the franchise open.
Overall, this was a great film with solid ideas and great twists. I’m sorry to hear you have canned the Jester series. The board seems to be full of “horror experts”, but not many people turned up for this one. They definitely missed out here.
Cheers
Review of Bloody Mansion
When I sat down to read “Bloody Mansion”, I read the preview and I was quite alarmed at the similarities between “Bloody Mansion” and Saw;
“…when he arrives home he finds his family held hostage by the mysterious Jester (Murphy) and must delve into a number of metal horrors and memories to get them back or they will die. Will Tom be able to beat the physcotic Jester and get his family back or will his mental state effect he and his judgment?”
I was a little bit disappointed when I read this, as I was expecting something else. I later came back with an open mind, and started reading. The opening scenes are a huge step up from blood harmony, the detailed descriptions and attention to detail opens the film really well. However the repetition of “We see..” becomes tedious and ugly to raed. There are times in the description where you step away from that (as highlighted in red) which is good, and makes it more free flowing to read.
“We see a foreground close-up of a toothpaste bottle cap which is open. A hand picks it up out of the background and moments later, puts it back. The cap is still open. We see a close-up of a tap running. We see a close-up of a sink being filled with soapy water. Suddenly the radio starts to play a song over the following shots. We see a close-up of a towel rack. A towel is suddenly pulled off.”
The break up of the stories is a great technique, which works much better in actual movies, however it works well here to. The sense of, Amy being attacked to create a sense of her being a “victim” is clever. (However I was confused when the person came into the shed? Was that jester? If so why didn’t she show herself, or was that just for the audiences viewing?) This works so well, as the film is a “horror” movie, yet there is no real “action” in the first half of the movie. However, the story 1 sequence lets the audience know, danger looms ahead. This adds to the suspense of the film, and to great effect.
The character development is interesting. The film begins with Tom being very bitter, and the rest of the family being quite afraid, or resentful of him. His behaviour seems quite erratic and often unjustified. He is who he is, it’s not up to me to decide that, but his behaviour seemed at times illogical. I didn’t think there was enough back story into Tom’s life that would justify his behaviour to the audience. Despite the fact his mother died at Christmas, nobody would really act that way towards their family.
Amy plays the beaten wife well, however putting up with Tom much more then she should. Jess is very resentful towards Tom, understandably, and Gilly (every time I read this I thought of Adam Gilchrist lol) is just a young girl, who isn’t present much in the film.
Overall I was very perplexed by the characters and their development, as there isn’t a likeable character among them. This is very hard as the protagonist and Antagonist are both evil. This leaves the audience with nobody to relate to, feel sorry for, or generally like. As I was reading it, I was constantly annoyed by Tom’s actions, which is understandable, but there really wasn’t anybody to counter balance him. Amy may be an attempt at this, however I didn’t feel any connection with her, as she did nothing to aid herslef as she wasn’t completely helpless (which were shown that she actually did, as we see at the end).
Nonetheless, the character development and interaction is great, especially in comparison with Blood Harmony, which I was quite impressed with.
Some other various things, in areas such as dialogue that caught my attention. Many things said by Tom such as;
“what is it? I don’t really have time for idol conversation.”
Who speaks like that to their wife?
“when you stop speaking like a dog that has been shat out of a aids infested trailer trash rat.”
I felt this was out of place, and also, what grown man says that? Furthermore, some things seem forced, in a sense of, that’s not how people actually talk. Such as;
“well you done me a favour by accepting me in your life”
This line actually made me laugh, as it was a touch corny for someone to actually say. However, there was one line that caught my attention.
“I hate this bloody mansion…”
That line from Amy was very clever and well situated; I smiled when I read it. Finally, another interesting note I made was you nudity. Ever time there was a nude scene, it involved a female who’s nipple was showing. Also each time, it was due to the cold.
“Her nipples are hard and blue due to the cold”
I laughed all three times. I just felt it wasn’t necessary to elaborate on her nipple, and the reasoning as to why they were hard. Perhaps once, but not three times.
The lead up to the final scene in the house is great. The inclusion of the “story 1” scenes build great suspense into the “Bloody Mansion” showdown. However it just resembles too much of Saw. I really just couldn’t ignore it.
“Wakey, Wakey Tom. Time to play my game.”
This line is nearly exactly what is said by jigsaw, “I want to play a game”. Despite this, the way Jester interacts with Tom is great. This leads straight back to Saw however;
“Here is the rules to that little game I mentioned earlier. There are three other people in this house, besides you and your family. One person is for Amy, one person is for Jessica and the final person is for Gilly. Now if you really want your family alive then you simply have to exit this house with all three people alive and you win!”
The rules explained are very much like Saw 4. With that behind me, the final scenes showed great potential, however I feel they were to short and forced. This may be due to the fact that I was reading it, instead of watching. It just seemed over to quickly. The final scenes however reveal a stroke of original genius, The Freak. I was intrigued by the character, which added an extra element to the action scenes. Pure genius. Not only does Tom have to rescue these people from disastrous traps, he needs to contend with this crazed man trying to murder him. I also enjoyed you homage to “Halloween”.
“The Freak has reached Honey and it stands above her menacingly. The Freak tilts its head as Honey continues to plead. The camera shows a fall portrait shot of The Freak standing over Honey with its head tilted.”
This scene made me smile, despite a fine line of plagiarism being addressed. The final scene involving the Freak was well written. Lorenzo the punk kid getting slaughtered trying be smarter then Tom, a nice touch. The closet scene however confused me a bit. A nail gun being on the floor I felt was a bit convenient for our now hero/protagonist. I couldn’t help but think, who keeps a nail gun in their closet?
Despite resembling Saw a little to much for my liking, you successfully included the element that make those movies so great, the twist at the end. Billy playing the part of Jester was a stroke of genius. I didn’t see that coming at all. Perhaps Amy, but not Billy being involved. This was a fitting end to a great movie. The involvement of detective Malice was a nice touch at the, leaving the franchise open.
Overall, this was a great film with solid ideas and great twists. I’m sorry to hear you have canned the Jester series. The board seems to be full of “horror experts”, but not many people turned up for this one. They definitely missed out here.
Cheers
