Movie Review: Scorned (2013; Anchor Bay/Horse Head Pictures)

...crazy-insane femme fatales in the movies...ya' just gotta love 'em. Yep...they be oh-so batshit crazy, though often quite clever, intelligent, cunning and resourceful...their world, skewed in the matters of right and wrong...perhaps not even caring about such petty and trivial things. You know them quite well, as well as their infamous and horrifically reciprocative acts. Hey, how about that silver platter of rat tartar, dished out to the invalid? Eh, perhaps a little diversionary touchie-feelie in the tub, followed by a quick underwater flick of the blade, on those oh-so sensitive parts? Or maybe a tasty pot of bunny stew, as a gruesome and shocking reminder of a spurned one-night stand? And let's not forget about a certain deftly applied sledgehammer to the ankles, all because...well naturally, that's what one does, when one is another's 'number one fan'. Yes, we all know them, as well as their brand of vengeance...perhaps a bit too well; after all, such unflinching scenes in films like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", "I Spit on Your Grave", "Fatal Attraction" and "Misery", amongst others, have long since become the stuff of movie thriller legend...often emulated and parodied...quite literally to the point of being cliché, these days. So, when the 'new kid...or rather, new psycho on the block' come along...such as the mentally twisted and diabolical, albeit beautiful protagonist of director Mark Jones' latest film, "Scorned"...and purports to pull the same tricks out of the hat, not unlike her famed 'femme fatale' predecessors...well, as much as 'beating a dead horse' could conceivably drag a relatively good thriller concept down, it most assuredly does, in this case...

Movie Review: Excision (2012, New Normal Films/Anchor Bay)

...for this viewer, as many might agree, a genre film, which garnishes just the right measure of negative reception, or which exploits the potential for that measured degree of negative reception, or even purposefully and gainfully sets itself up for that potential, just for sensationalism...that is, without going so overboard, that it kills the actual film's potential, may the film be good or bad...is pretty damn cool, in this viewer's book. It's like old-age cliché of heavy traffic on the highway, as the result of a multi-vehicle accident; once knowing that there's been an accident ahead, who isn't gonna stop for moment and gawk at the destructive mayhem, as they drive by?? And if there's bloodshed or injury involved...well, all the more probable, as far as the curious 'lookie-loos'. As far as genre films...especially if they are over-the-top disturbing, or graphic, and whether or not there's method to the filmmaker's madness...purpose, associated his or her twisted and disturbing vision...well, damn the critics!! If word gets out that because of the content of a film, medical personnel and vehicles are stationed at the theater...or if people are reportedly fainting in the theater aisles, as the result of watching the film...or if picketers, with signs menacingly and shakingly upheld, attempt to divert movie-goers...or even when staunch and stiff-shirted critics lambaste & petition against a particular movie, warning that 'you should adamantly not see this movie, because it (...fill in the blank; heck, the late Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel used to do that, all the time)...whether such things are staged or not...well, much like the fact that a measurably greasy laden take-out bag might well be the sign of 'fine' cuisine, within...most ardent genre fans, like this viewer, might probably be the first in line, to view the cinematic 'ugliness', suggested by the naysayers, who in most cases, haven't bothered to even watch what they are speaking out against...

...in this viewer's book...uh, what was that old saying about "...if you can't stand the heat...???"...