Don't Look Up DVD Movie Review
Don't Look Up DVD Movie Review
…But do look at this movie.
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Although anyone who reads me regularly is aware I am not a huge fan of Asian horror, I know it pretty well thanks to my profession. But right around the time I became a film critic, I saw (and liked) a Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata called Ghost Actress. I saw it for the first and only time through a movie marathon on IFC (they showed that, Spiral, and Ringu) and have never forgotten it. It's rare for any movie to stand out in my muddled, over-cranked, dialogue-heavy memory, but for a J-horror? It's remarkable, since they do tend to cannibalize each other even more so than other horror subgenres.
When Don't Look Up started to play, I immediately thought of Ghost Actress — so I picked up the DVD box and read the back and dug into the details a little more. Sure enough, it's a remake. Not a good sign, but then I saw that it's directed by the twisted, insane, and totally whacked out Fruit Chan (note to Chan's legal counsel: I mean that in a good way. Allegedly). Chan directed another brain-searing and completely unforgettable gotcha thriller called Dumplings, which was included in the Three… Extremes anthology film along with two other tales of trippy terror.
Babies in horror movies tend to make people pretty squeamish, and nobody exploits that better than the A-horror filmmakers. Nothing's off-limits, and in Don't Look Up we have some pretty revolting birthing scenes, rampaging babies, and infant terribles. But I digress. There are adult actors in the movie, and some good ones at that.
Don't Look Up starts off with a cool cameo by horror-meister Eli Roth as a 1920s auteur who finds himself working on a production so cursed it costs him his life. Fast-forward to present-day, where another driven director (played by Reshad Strik) has decided to remake the beleaguered saga — much to chagrin of his compatriots (actors and crew played by Henry Thomas [great in this!], Kevin Corrigan, Daniela Sea, Zelda Williams, Lothaire Bluteau and Carmen Chaplin to call out a few of the ensemble — even if you don't recognize their names, you'll know their faces). After the filmmakers assemble on the rickety, isolated location and crumbling old sets in Romania, bad things quickly begin to rear their ugly heads.
A few of the performances are a tad histrionic and some of the "old" footage doesn't really look very authentic (and the CGI flies are pretty horrible) — BUT… Don't Look Up is still a very effective, squirm-inducing and suspenseful thriller and ghost story. There's great attention to detail, and every scare is orchestrated. There are some moments which are downright hair-raising and that definitely doesn't happen very often in the course of watching direct-to-disc fright fare.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson