Baumer's Top 50 of 2015 5) Creed 4) Jurassic World 3) Trumbo 2) It Follows...number one on pg 13

[baumer]

Just kidding folks  

 

 

[Dementeleus]

Good timing on the page break there.

[baumer]

Number two:  IT FOLLOWS

 

 

Taken from my original review:

 

 

 

 

Bar none, this is the best horror film I've seen in 15 years.  As Stingray said, if you are looking for gore, look elsewhere.  If you are looking for something that will make you feel uneasy, create paranoia, and make you smile because you realize what you just watched is one of the most original and brilliant pieces of film making you will see in the genre, then this is it.

 

And Jessie, Babadook this is not, not even close.

 

 

Right from the opening scene, I was drawn in.  There is an obvious 80's theme to this but we know it's modern times because one of the characters has what looks to be a data device.  I'm not even sure what it is but unless I'm mistaken, it is something that had data capabilities.  But the rest of the film is shot like a 70's horror or an 80's horror.  They went to great lengths to establish a look and a feel to the film and it works beautifully.  

 

This review will be spoiler heavy so if you don't want to know the nuts and bolts, skip over it.  

 

The plot is a simple one.  There is some kind of malevolent force that follows you around.  The way you contract and eliminate this threat is by having sex.  Somehow by having unprotected sex, you get it, and then, as the title says it follows you around.  Only you can see this thing though.  So every person who might look a little strange to you could be the force that is out to get you.  And it creates paranoia because you don't know what's real and what isn't.  This is an incredibly effective plot device in the film.  As it is explained to J, after she gets it from her new boyfriend, this force can be anyone.  It walks slow so you can buy yourself time by outrunning it or driving away but like the Terminator, it will not stop ever until you are dead.  

 

The first 15 minutes has J having sex with her boyfriend, it's a nice experience that they share, and then as she is leaning over the backseat rambling on about whatever it is you ramble on about after sex, her boyfriend comes up behind her and puts a cloth with chloroform on it, around her mouth.  She wakes up tied to a chair and he tells her what it is that's coming after her.  He apologizes to her and explains that all she has to do is have sex with someone else and she's rid of it.  But, if the thing that follows her manages to kill someone, then it comes after the next one down the line and so on.  So really no one is safe, ever.  

 

The cast are nobodies but J, as played by Maika Monroe, has been in some films but she's just not a name.  That's going to change after this film.  Not only is she strikingly beautiful, she absolutely nails the character.  She's absolutely terrified all throughout the film and when she's scared, you are scared for her.  The rest of the cast is very good as well and there's a nice love triangle as one of her long time friends has loved her probably since they were kids, but he's not quite her type and this creates a lot of tension.  He's willing to sleep with her and take the malevolent force on, that's how much he likes her.  

 

The look of the film is second to none as this was filmed entirely in Michigan and much of it in Detroit, where you see the poverty, the run down buildings, the old houses, the beat up 30 year old cars.  The look of the film is basically a secondary character.  It adds to the palette and creates tension.  There's something more sinister about seeing an old 70's TV with rabbit ears and all the shitty colours from the 80's carpet and wallpaper and such.  

 

And then there's the soundtrack.  I think the composer paid homage to about 8-10 horror themes.  While not ripping them off, you can easily hear, Manfredini, Bernstein, Carpenter, Hermann and even some very obvious nods to something like Knowing where the soundtrack was overbearing but effective.  I am simply in love with the music that was used here.

 

When you combine all of this together, you get one of the best horror films I've ever seen.  Horror has had some good entries in the last decade imo but nothing can top this.  It's frightening, tense, creates a lot of panic and leaves you guessing in almost every scene.  Writer and director David Robert Mitchell has created one of the most terrifying and original horror films.  I won't rank it right now because it's still so fresh but I am simply in love with this film.  I honestly wanted to go right back into the theater to see it again.

 

It's also unapologetically rated R.  There's lots of nudity, it's terrifying and if you were to bring kids to this, I think it would seriously have a chance to mess with their minds.  IMO, horror was truly born in the 70's.  I'm aware of Hitchcock's contribution to the genre, but the horror that I love was from the 70/80's.  This is almost a love letter to the films of those decades.  But in some ways, it does it better.  It Follows might end up being the best film of the year.

 

As for the ending that someone complained about.  It's the perfect way to end the film.  There is no other way to end it.  This thing cannot be stopped.  It just can't.  So to have it look like a somewhat happy ending was cool..until you see that no matter what they do, they will never get rid of it.  The ending was terrific.

 

Every time I finish the review I just feel like going back and adding more.  I can't say enough about it.  This is about as original as it gets and that is a rare thing in today's cinema.

 

Trivia:   The film takes inspiration from several horror films and their tropes from the '60s to the '80s especially from the slasher classic Halloween (1978). The girl in the opening scene of the film is named Annie, one of Laurie's friends in Halloween was named Annie Brackett.

 

 

[baumer]

One last comment about It Follows.  I can't stress to you how much I love this film.  And it was difficult...VERY DIFFICULT to not have it as my number one film this year.  But Star Wars is just so frikkin awesome, that it has to be number one.

[baumer]

[baumer]

 

 

[Empire]

Trumbo & Jurassic World in your top 5....

 

[baumer]

I'll have a complete list up shortly

[baumer]

Ok, this is not funny.  I had a huge write up about SW and now it's gone.  I hit submit and it didn't take.  WTF.

[baumer]

Isn't there a way to recover what you wrote?

[Dementeleus]

1 minute ago, Baumer said:

Isn't there a way to recover what you wrote?

 

Unfortunately not, as far as I know. Unless you wrote it up in a separate application.

[baumer]

Ok, well, it's here somewhere.....lol

[baumer]

2 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

 

Unfortunately not, as far as I know. Unless you wrote it up in a separate application.

 

I put it in a different thread, I edited a post in a different thread.  For some reason, this thread was giving me trouble....can you find my edit history or something @Telemachos

[baumer]

Found it:

 

Star Wars The Force Awakens:  We'll figure it out.  We'll use the force.

                                               That's not how the force works!

 

 

@Chewy created the The Force Awakens thread.  For three years we posted out thoughts, out hopes, our fears, desires and predictions.  We argued about what it could make, what it would make and how December would affect it, how it would open, how good the legs would be and a myriad of other shit...all to fill the three years we had to wait to see our heroes again.

 

On opening night, I sat in the theater, hardly able to contain myself.  I was like a 6 year old trying to sleep on Christmas Eve.  When the curtain came up, people cheered, when Lucasfilm was splashed across the screen, people lost their minds.  When John Williams iconic orchestra blared over the speakers, there was a Gremlins like frenzy that came over a theater filled with adults.  It was here....it was finally here.  It had only been ten years since Sith, but it had three decades since we saw Han, chewy, Luke and Leia.

 

The Force Awakens exceeded my lofty expectations.  When I drove home that night, as I sat in silence and let it all in, I began to weep, a little at first, and then it just came gushing all at once.  I sobbed like my high school girlfriend had just broke up with me.  I liked the prequels, I'm actually one of the few who loved them.  But they never made me feel like this.  This is everything I love about the movies.  JJ Abrams gave me something that I can never repay him for.  He brought me back to a time when life was simpler.  He gave me an experience that reminded me of why I love movies.  The Force Awakens is probably going to unseat Empire Strikes Back as the best Star Wars film.  And you have to understand that Empire is perfection to me.  But TFA did everything right and it did more than I expected.  It gave us an incredible story, it teased us with things to come, it took one of the most beloved characters and did something to them and it created new characters for us to love.  It's just simply the best film I've seen in a very long time.  

 

I could go on, but what's the point?  I love this film.  That's all that needs to be said.

 

Trivia:   Mark Hamill claimed George Lucas nonchalantly told him over lunch a new Star Wars trilogy was going to be made by Disney, and if he did not want to be involved, Luke Skywalker would simply be written out of the script. However, Hamill immediately agreed to reprise the role. Hamill admitted, however, that he pretended to also be nonchalant about it so it didn't seem like he was excited for the role.

 

 

[Empire]

Great job with your list. It was really surprising & I liked the write ups. 

[baumer]

Thanks @Empire

[The Futurist]

I still blame Canada for pretty much everything but it gave us Rush, James Cameron, Baumer & Rachel McAdams so ...

 

Nice top, all over the place and Katniss free.

[Avatree]

Even if some of your choices are a little... strange... I love how passionate you are about some of these. Great list B  

[baumer]

Well, it would be boring if everyone had the same opinions.

 

Thanks for reading and commenting everyone.

[The Panda]

Nicely done Baumer.  I may think there's some questionable choices, but it's fun seeing you be so passionate about many of them.