Betrayal, trust, scares & death enliven Colin Minihan's thriller, WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE

What if the person closest to us -- our spouse, say -- turns out to be a raging-and-very-good-at-it psychopath bent on killing us? Not a pleasant thought, and in the new horror/slasher/ psychological minder-bender, WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE, writer/director Colin Minihan brings this concept to searing and most unpleasant life. Except, of course, that it will prove creepily diverting for those of us who enjoy an unusually good scare.

Much of the movie's power comes from the fact that one of its protagonists really does care for the other and, even as she tries to stay alive, keeps attempting to piece together why her spouse, suddenly deranged as hell, keeps insisting on her demise.

Mr. Minihan (shown at right), whose addition to the zombie genre, It Stains the Sands Red, I have not seen (being awfully tired of zombies), allows enough psychological material, along with some depth to enter the picture that, for a time, we keep hoping there will be more.

There is, but it turns out to come only via the character of the betrayed wife (and the full-bodied performance from Brittany Allen, below), who is not simply physically abused to the max but also seems to have had her entire persona beaten out of her. She's barely a shell who can no longer, perhaps does not even want to, fight back.
But of course she tries.

Her spouse -- played by Hannah Emily Anderson (below), an actress beautiful of both face and figure -- whether by the performer's choice or maybe having been directed to do this, plays her role much more by rote. Initially the couple seems happy and in love/lust, but as soon as the trouble begins, the need to kill comes barreling down the track like a runaway train, complete with our antagonist taking moments to rehearse her upcoming "grief" scene or turning on a dime from nasty to nice to coax our protagonist out of hiding.

The movie is wisely and economically a two-hander -- save for the pair of husband/wife neighbors, whom you hope will survive the onslaught. As such it relies on its two leading ladies, who come through, one in OK form, the other pretty terrifically. You may be angry at our good girl for not fighting harder, but her performance is such that you will easily buy into her grief and then her diminution.

Minihan has tricks up his sleeve; some are the usual, others genuinely surprising. Pay attention to the small details; as ever with these genre movies, there is some reason for most of them.

The Canadian location is a humdinger: lake, forest, cabin in the woods, and of course a very high cliff -- with everything as real as you could ask for.

The pacing is fine, the dialog decent enough, and the payoff is oddly satisfying. Not perhaps quite what you might have wanted, but acceptable and even more important, given what we know, believable, too.

From IFC Midnight and running maybe just a tad too long at 98 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, August 24, in New York City at the IFC Center (midnight screening only!) and in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinelounge. Simultaneously, it becomes available nationwide via VOD.

Creepy scares--and quite a bit more--inhabit Jeremy Dyson/Andy Nyman's GHOST STORIES

If you're looking, as TrustMovies often is, for a worthwhile and different "scary" movie, I'd highly recommend a new one entitled (not especially originally but no matter) GHOST STORIES. The ghosts here are quite interestingly connected -- and guilt-generated -- even though they appear in what initially looks like several different tales. The link between them is one of those parapsychology "experts" dead set on exploring and then debunking what might appear to the untrained eye and mind as "other-worldly."

The writer/director purveyors of this strange and alternately entrancing and disturbing movie are Jeremy Dyson (shown at left) and Andy Nyman (shown below), the latter of whom may be more familiar to viewers as an actor, which he is again here, essaying the leading role of Dr. Goodman, the fellow who would like to debunk the various tales we're going to see. How the good doctor goes about this and what happens then makes up the meat of Ghost Stories, a kind of anthology movie that turns out to be but a single story, after all.

The connections in the three-tales-within-a-tale are both obvious and barely there, but by the finale of this 97-minute movie you may be surprised at how many more associations and relationships are present here than you'll have first imagined.

By the time of its conclusion, the movie has offered a good deal more surprise and depth than expected in what would initially seem to be a mere genre piece.

The three let's-debunk-this-nonsense tales involves a night guard (Paul Whitehouse, above) at a closed-up sanitorium, a very odd and maybe paranoid young man without a driver's license (Alex Lawther, below) and a highly entitled, upper-crust twat about to become a father (Martin Freeman, two photos down).

The three give as fine and specific a performance as can be managed in the short screen time and limited character development provided. But that's quite all right because the filmmakers also offer up the requisite scares and fright along the way (nothing we haven't seen before, but nicely done) and most important a compelling and increasing sense of absolute dread -- of what, we're not even sure.

Storywise, the movie's all over the place, and yet it manages to somehow cohere, while visually it seems dark and foreboding, even in the daylight scenes. Judaism, the faith and culture, are important, too -- how much so we don't quite understand until the finale.

Oddball but finally memorable, Ghost Stories, I think, will slowly build a following and someday perhaps take its place as a kind of minor genre icon. Released via IFC Midnight, the movie opens in New York City at the IFC Center this Friday, April 20, and in Los Angeles next Friday, April 27, at the Landmark NuArt. Simultaneously with its theatrical release, the film will also be available via VOD.

François Ozon is back with DOUBLE LOVER, a box of yummy poison candy for Valentine's Day

When, at the end of his career, the work of French filmmaker François Ozon, gets a going-over by movie buffs, I suspect there will be some gnashing of teeth regarding exactly what kind of films for which he was most noted. Were these the campy comedies (Sitcom, 8 Women) or the oddball/otherworldly (Ricky)? The dark and ugly (See the Sea, Criminal Lovers) or the period pieces (Angel, Potiche and Frantz), each as hugely different from the other two as possible? One thing nearly all his films have in common to one degree or other is Ozon's peculiar sense of camp, which infuses even his most serious pieces.

Ozon's kind of camp (the filmmaker is pictured at left), TrustMovies feels, transcends the merely gay and over-the-top stuff we're so used to seeing.

There is a sense of playfulness and fun to even his darkest work that keeps reminding us that, yes, this is just a movie, but still, movies can tell us special things and in a manner than almost nothing else can.

This makes for an odd combination, to say the least, keeping us often off-balance. But when Ozon makes it work, as in his best films -- In the House, Time to Leave and Under the Sand  -- it opens our eyes, mind and heart in a way that can only be described as Ozonian.

In his latest endeavor, DOUBLE LOVER, the filmmaker has adapted a novel by Joyce Carol Oates, Lives of the Twins, and made yet another movie about the effects of the convergence of psychology, trauma and sexuality on a human being. Similar in some ways to another of his recent films, The New Girlfriend, the movie is not among his best, but, as usual with Ozon, it is so much fun to view visually as it bumps along, you will not, I think, be at all bored. It helps, too, that he is using three very attractive and charismatic actors as his leads: Jérémie Renier and Marine Vacth (above, left and right), along with a still-gorgeous Jacqueline Bisset (below, left).

To talk at all about the plot here will mean that I am "lying" to you because viewers cannot always be sure that what they're seeing and hearing is even true. So let's just leave it that we're dealing with a quite beautiful young woman (Ms Vacth), who has some stomach problems that appear to be psychosomatic and so her physician recommends she consult a psychiatrist (M. Renier) to help solve them.

It is such a pleasure to view these two very attractive performers, whom we see here looking their absolute best, whether clothed or naked (imagine a therapy session like the one below!), that the increasingly convoluted plot -- with enough holes to remind you of a very large chunk of swiss cheese -- keeps threatening to spin completely out of control.

Yes, twins are involved here, which means we get a double dose of the glorious Ms. Renier, and if you're a cat lover, you'll get a couple of beautiful examples of this species, too. There's a nosy neighbor (Miriam Boyer), a gynecologist (Dominique Reymond) who seems oddly familiar later on in this movie, and finally Ms Bisset, who helps bring all the various puzzle pieces together.

Yeah, you'll probably find it a bunch of hooey, overall, but so cleverly put together is it, and so very beautiful is the lovely Ms Vacth from first scene to last (yes, Chekhov's gun makes its appearance, with the usual rule played out) that I suspect you'll have had a good enough time to make a viewing of Double Lover worthwhile.

The movie seems especially appropriate for Valentine's Day, given Ozon's sense of humor and his delight in offering us what one might see as a poisoned bon-bon wrapped up initially like a lovely dream that unfortunately proceeds into nightmare.

From Cohen Media Group, in French with English subtitles and running 107 minutes, Double Lover opens tomorrow, Wednesday, February 14, in New York City (at the Quad Cinema and AMC Empire 25), Los Angeles (at Laemmle's Playhouse 7 and Royal), San Francisco (at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema) and Philadelphia (at the Landmark Ritz East). Elsewhere? I would hope that the film will play in other venues around the country over the weeks/months to come, but I could find no link to any list of playdates.

ONE EYED GIRL: Nick Matthews' dark and believable film is a cult-ivating experience

A young therapist who perhaps should no longer be practicing his "art" is the protagonist of a new and very much worthwhile Australian movie called ONE EYED GIRL. Our boy Travis, probably in his early 30s, is clearly going through some bad times, having trouble connecting with his patients (or, in at least one case, connecting with her a little too thoroughly). His boss tries to be understanding, but Travis is losing it. One day on a busy subway car, he encounters what appears to be a pretty young girl and handsome older man handing out leaflets and promising help to those in need. He smartly ignores them the first time, but becomes a bit more interested once the second connection is made.

So begins an increasingly dark and unsettling movie about "giving over": why it happens, what it entails, and how lives are finally consumed by some people's desire for power and others' need for protection. As directed by first-time full-length filmmaker Nick Matthews (shown at right) and written by Matthews, with the help of Craig Behenna, who has a co-starring role in the film, One Eyed Girl proves consistently interesting as it appears to veer one way, then another and another until at last we understand it fully. It's about faith and cults, among other things, and even as it draws us in, it pulls no punches.

Travis, played with jittery panache by Mark Leonard Winter (above), is one of those people with a strong desire to help others who probably ought to have found any means except therapy to do so. The girl on the subway whom he follows into "the fold" is played by a striking young actress named Tilda Cobham-Hervey, below, who made an auspicious debut in 52 Tuesdays and here shows that her earlier performance was no fluke. The actress possesses a fine combination of beauty, subtlety and intelligence that should stand her in good stead.

As Father Jay, the cult's charismatic-in-a-low-keyed-manner leader, Steve Le Marquand (below, left) does a superlative job of pulling us in and having us almost believe, maybe hope, that he's the real deal. The actor, as well as the character he plays, keeps us guessing and maybe wishing for something more and better.

This kind of off-balance push-and-pull is indicative of how the entire movie works its spell. Though they deal with themes and situations we've seen many times previous, Matthews and Behenna weave together character and situation with our own expectations and desires in a manner that makes for an increasingly fraught and tension-filled entertainment in which the past is always with us, the present looks iffy and the future, well, bleak.

From Dark Sky Films and running an entirely credible 103 minutes, One Eyed Girl hits the streets today, Tuesday, December 8 -- available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download, for purchase or rental.

Horror and parenting combine in Jennifer Kent's classy, psychologically riveting THE BABADOOK

If you're a fan of talented Australian actress Essie Davis, particularly of her hit TV series, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, stick her new film, in which she is unrecognizable (so far as "Miss Fisher" is concerned) -- the first full-length endeavor from writer/director Jennifer Kent -- on your must-see list. Davis is simply amazing in this role of a hugely put-upon mother, trying to keep her body and soul (as well as her son's) together in the wake of an otherworldly intruder known as THE BABADOOK.

As writer/director, Ms Kent (shown at left) is onto something important and rather fierce: the idea that what we repress can take a physical form that might be our undoing. Now, you can approach this from platforms supernatural or psychological. Kent makes both work quite well, vying, as the film unspools, for our attention and decision. How we are pulled one way, then another, by the shocks and scares -- visual and audial (the exceptional sound design is by Frank Lipson) keep us off balance and forever questioning what is really going on here.

Visually the film is quite elegant, beautifully designed and a pleasure to observe. Ms Kent's command of character and her ability to keep us off-balance in this, too, is pretty remarkable. In the leading roles of mother and her son, Samuel, Ms Davis and a young actor named Noah Wiseman (in his film debut) are exceptional. Initially, we see Samuel as an adorable little boy who's also a handful -- but then we're soon ready to throttle the kid, given his manners and what he gets up to.

As the film rolls on, however, it's Momma who begins to worry us more. Yet as we also slowly learn the facts of the history of this sad family, nothing at all seems simple or easily judged. And Ms Davis is so good at keeping us in that fraught state between fear and hope that we eventually become about as shaken up as do the characters she and young Master Wiseman (above and below) bring to such moving, frightening life.

What, finally, is the titular Babadook? Primal fears, the nastier side of us, repressed anger we've never handled, or a full-fledged, never-to-be-destroyed monster man? You decide -- between your bouts of fright, fun and, yes, sadness. Because some things go beyond any possible repair.

The Babadook -- from IFC Midnight and running 94 minutes -- opens this Friday, November 28, in New York City at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and the IFC Center. In the Los Angeles area, look for it at The Cinefamily at Silent Movie Theatre, beginning tomorrow, November 26, at midnight, and then continuing from Friday, Nov. 28 through Tuesday., Dec 2. Simultaneously, the film will open via VOD, so consult your local cable carrier for specifics.

Re-viewing THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and mourning Anthony Minghella's untimely demise

Watching THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY again, almost fifteen years after its initial release, turns out to be a major pleasure, for reasons both expected and not so. Having just recently seen once again, Purple Noon, the original film adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel, and then coming upon the version written and directed by the late Anthony Minghella, suddenly available via Netflix streaming, a chance to view this film again proved irresistible. And worth every one of its 139 minutes.

It's a gorgeous piece of work in so many ways, from its depiction of Italy circa the late 1950s to the scenery, sets, costumes and all the rest -- jazz clubs, seaside towns, yachts, an apartment in which adding a refrigerator was a big deal, and mid-century Rome -- the movie is almost consistently, eye-poppingly beautiful.

Then there's that cast: Matt Damon (two photos up), in his best role yet, as the sociopath Tom Ripley -- so bright, so intuitive, and so incredibly dangerous; Jude Law (above) as his "idol," golden-boy Phillip Greenleaf, who has everything Tom wants, including his girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow, below) in one of her best roles, too.

Then there's Cate Blanchett (below) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (two photos below) for major support, plus a roster of terrific actors, American and Italian, in the more minor roles. As good and as groundbreaking as was Purple Noon in its day (1960), this later version of the novel was able to do much more with the Highsmith property, thanks to the change in mores and movie "morals" over the 40-year span between the two. Minghella also allows much more psychology and character(s) into the mix, broadening and deepening the story.

Mostly though, this movie may remind you of the filmmaker and his fine career, and sadden you all over again that these were cut so short. Minghella (shown at bottom) died suddenly and quite untimely at the age of 54 in 2008. Known perhaps more as a screenwriter (20 credits) than a director (only nine), those nine films include classics like this one, as well as one of the finest love stories/ghost stories/rom-coms ever made, Truly Madly Deeply, and the award-winning The English Patient, which garnered the filmmaker his Oscar (along with eight others).

Minghella had such a wide range of interests, along with the ability, it seems, to bring them to wonderful life. The man had some misses (Nine, anyone? Didn't think so. Anyway, he wasn't responsible for the ham-fisted direction but only co-wrote the screenplay for that second-rate musical) and he did a few films that were good but not great. Yet imagine what he might have given us had he lived another couple of decades.

Meanwhile, see (or re-see) The Talented Mr. Ripley and bask in its beauty, surprise, and the terror of being this close to someone who possesses no conscience. None at all. But hey, he's moved by opera and its uber-theatricality. (Remember that scene -- used in the movie's trailer to throw us off-base -- of the spectacular, operatic blood flow? Whew!)

Talent simply abounds in this version of Ripley, and the movie is streamable now via Netflix and is also available elsewhere and on DVD and Blu-ray. (And that's Mr. Minghella, at work, below.)

Matthew Saville's NOISE: a good deal of sound and fury signifying... what, exactly? Your choice.

A provincial Australian town on the route of a major railway that has lately experienced a mass-murder must now deal with the after-effects of this hideous and confusing crime. The shooter has left one possible victim alive, which perplexes her, as well as the police. In Matthew Saville's quiet and unsettling movie, NOISE, we get to know the municipality's police, some of the little town's citizens -- a pretty bizarre lot -- and especially one particular policeman, and his live-in lady.

As written and directed by Saville (shown at left), a veteran of Aussie television, the film weaves from character to character, incident to incident, connecting them in offhand ways that eventually pay off -- to some extent. The film's opening is almost guaranteed to keep you watching, both surprising and quietly breath-stopping in its revelations. The film's star and centerpiece is an actor named Brendan Cowell, below, who plays a cop named Graham with a physical problem, Tinnitus (an occasional ringing, sometimes roaring, in the ears), that seems to bring on other physical problems. Graham would like to be let off work for awhile, but then this massacre happens and he's put on duty in this little outpost of weirdness that only adds to the weirdness he's already experiencing.

Meanwhile that left-unhurt victim of the massacre (a nice performance from Maia Thomas, shown with Cowell in photo at bottom) has her own problems -- particularly the fear that the murderer, whom she clearly saw, will come after her now.

Graham and his girlfriend, herself a policewoman (played by Katie Wall, above right) bicker and screw, odd locals pop in and out of the ersatz headquarters where Graham and other cops work, and we begin to get a picture of life in this rather strange community.

Yet that picture does not go very far or very deep. While the film is consistently interesting, it refuses to coalesce, and this cut-off experienced by the characters from each other and their own life, as well as what we viewers experience from the film itself, is intentional, I suspect. The noise of the title, the noise in Graham's head, the noise, static, distraction and disconnect of modern life makes it impossible for us all to properly connect. (Or not.)

That's what I got out of this odd film that offers little closure, but which I found, on balance, worth seeing. My spouse did not -- and unusual response from him to any film from Film Movement, the distributor that released this movie in the U.S. You can view it now via Netflix streaming, Amazon Instant Video, or on DVD.