I watched both of his movies this past week.
And I have to say, I didn't think they were that bad.
These movies have extremely heavy influences by "Natural Born Killers" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", with a touch of "Helter Skelter".
If he had done 2 things differently, these movies would have been pretty decent.
1. He made everyone crazy in these films. I mean everyone, the cops, the bad guys, the locals, anyone who believes in Jesus, the victoms. Everyone was crazy.
Which keeps you from relating to the characters, thus keeping you from getting into the movies too deep.
With no one to pull for, you kind of feel lead to root for the bad guys. Then you find yourself asking "Hey?! Why am I rooting for a bunch of devil worshipping crazies?"
And when you find yourself leaning in that direction, it totally takes the whole "Horror" out of the movie, because you don't mind that the victoms are victoms.
2. Way Too Artistic. Heavily influenced by Oliver Stone's latest style of the past 10 years, there was just way too much artistic value in these movies, especially the second one.
When applying an artistic angle or effect, you want them to make a moment all the more horrific or emotional. But he was using these effects when there was no action at all.
Example: Jaws (When the sherrif sees the shark on the 4th of July weekend, the camera angle stretched on his face. The back ground got farther while his face got closer to the camera. This was an effect that is suppose to make the audience feel more shocked.)
Now just imagine that Example being used over and over on meaningless scenes, and you get the idea.
I wouldn't recommend this movie. But the writer/director is a rock star. It's pretty darn good for a rock star.
rob who?
