AMERICAN BLOODY MARY 

American Mary is a freaky, dive into the weird and not too wonderful world of body modification and human obsession. “Unique” and “freak” are the only words that really fit — and for those poor souls who take body modding to the extreme, they somehow end up being both at the same time once the body pimping is done. There’s a sort of sordid realism to some of the background characters, like they're not really actors but real participants. I knew next to nothing going in, stumbling upon this movie by chance. The title gives nothing away, in the best way. The first time we meet her Betty Boop friend Beatress, it was unsettling, sure, but also weirdly fascinating and utterly bewildering.

There’s an abundance of disturbing, unsettling scenes, strange characters, and bizarre ideas at play here. Basically, extreme underground cosmetic surgery, there's one woman who wants to turn herself into a human Barbie doll.  And as for that creepy, leeching doctor? Let’s just say karma in American Mary doesn’t do subtle; it serves up exactly what he deserved, with a side of freakshow justice.

 All in all, it's not a great movie, but to me, this movie hit the spot when I had nothing to watch and craved a film about body dysmorphic correction surgery: an enjoyable, if disturbing, find. 

Sure, it has flaws, it's a bit of a mess sometimes, I guess, like some of the people, but honestly… I can live with that, no need for re-edits. There was already enough cutting and splicing going on. 

Once a douchebag - now a punch bag - " ready for that upper cut, mister?" 

 

 JOIN US! FACE YOUR DEMONS! 

Chainsaws revving, blood flying, and a cabin doing its best impression of a possessed blender,  with Ash and demons as the main ingredients, yes, it’s the utterly deranged Evil Dead finale! Poor Ash is down to one hand, one nerve, and zero hope of ever getting his deposit back. The Necronomicon’s throwing tantrums, the walls are bleeding, and the furniture’s laughing; it’s basically an Airbnb from hell.

This climactic showdown had it all: plasticine monsters, stop-motion chaos, and mushy peas that never looked so terrifying. 

What a movie! It was a true standout in my horror-watching life. I still remember this moment the way that possessed demon lunged forward, like it was gliding on rails,  pure, unfiltered nightmare fuel that burned itself into my brain forever.

“Having a sore hand is bad… having a chainsaw hand? That’s badder!”

Human Centipede tricycle

A quick drawing showing the absolute ideal escape idea for this trio,  I figured a regular vehicle would be most difficult as their predicament impedes their ability to sit or drive, as for  a train well that just looks like one party is mocking the other.

two thirds of the movie is totally tongue in cheek

AFTER EARTH

URSA is latin for bear

I didn't expect much from this movie but when i finally got around to watching  AFTER EARTH, I loved it! The entertainment value and thrills I got from this motivated me to do this drawing of the stand-off with the dreaded URSA - in case you were wondering about the above drawing that  Jayden Smiths pose isn't reactive to his situation it's all in the storyline that if you master your fear you're invisible to the creature , he cant sense you.   ( Its called ghosting. )
Fabulously  entertaining and inventive stuff and at the end  as the credits rolled I discovered that the director was none other than  M. Night Shyamalan.

The general consensus seems to be of hatred for this movie and that the Tom Cruise si-fi outing OBLIVION is superior,  yet I honestly found that flick tedious and boring.
 A quick trawl of the internet reveals that critics universally slated AFTER EARTH and seem to  gleefully wish  box office death upon it,  from what I can gauge its mainly because of Mr Shyamalan association  with this project.  I loved this film and so I find this puzzling backlash unwarranted and unfair.

 I never realised it was M. Night Shyamalan at the helm, but it was one of the better movie nights in our house and really thats what it boils down to entertainment value, thinking back I have to give credit where credit be due and truthful we've been thrilled amazed, enthralled and gripped  in generous amounts by his previous films   SIGNS, THE SIXTH SENSE, THE HAPPENING  and even THE VILLAGE. ( I wont mention Last Airbender....nor Lady in the Lake! )
....
So in support of this movie a big hooray goes out  from this corner of the blogverse , and  I'm also gonna stick my neck out and say that if I wasn't me then I would have liked to be M.Night Shyamalan - such is my admiration for his work in fact I was convinced that he was going to make foil hats the next big fashion hit.

Its a big thumbs up from me for this movie and tin foil hats.