Sunday, July 09, 2006

Saint Martyrs of the Damned


Saturday @ 9:15 p.m. – Saint Martyrs of the Damned. - Plays out as an intriging X-Files/Twilight Zone episode. . Flavien Juste is an orphan who has grown up into Weekly World News styled tabloid reporter. He is sent to investigate a small town that has an abnormally high number of missing persons, with the supernatural being the expected cause. He is sent his best friend, the publications’ photographer, to bring back a whopper of a story with the goal of restoring some class and funds the ailing publication. It takes less than 1 hour in town before they encounter an abandoned and creepy gas-station, a lodge run by two extremely odd twin sisters (who share the same name), a steakhouse in which the owner serves the customers in lingerie and an effective jump scare or two in the form of a ethereal corpse bride. Oh and the photographer along with the car go missing too. Flavien’s only hope of figuring things out, and not being assaulted or arrested, lie either in a young man with Downs Syndrome or an attractive young woman who appears to be at odds with the rest of the town. Film is very good at laying on the atmosphere and suspense. There are lots of "cat jumps from behind the bed" moments as well. My only question is the ending where a character does something that simply does not make sense to me. It is the first film for Canadian Vincenzo Natali and is certainly more ambitious than anything coming out in Hollywood (Cry Wolf, Venom) or the next film I saw.

No comments: