Stranger Things

Saying that the 2016’s Drama/Fantasy/Horror Netflix Series ‘Stranger Things’ was inspired by 1984’s ‘The Terminator’ alone would be an understatement. As thrilling, enticing and seemingly “original” these episodes claim to be to numerous viewers worldwide it sadly is a ‘cop-out’ of many many Horror films from the 80’s and 90’s; think ‘Poltergeist’, ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’, ‘ET’, ‘Alien’ or any of Stephen King’s bestselling novels or movies. My question would be  to ask what is Stephen King’s point-of-view on the whole series! 

Setting those thoughts aside, being that this new generation hasn’t been exposed to our classics from the past, and thanks to the excellent 2011 film ‘Drive’ starring Canadian Ryan Gosling, that revived and started ‘Retro New Wave 80’s music’ I can then say that ‘Stranger Things’ delivered as did it’s predecessors also have! 

Garnering 36 nominations, including 2 Golden Globe nominees and another 4 wins it’s easy to see that the audience loved and would love our classic recipe for adventure, mystery and wild titilation! Created or I would rather say ‘re-created’ by American twin-brothers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, they were able to succeed in attracting gargantuan talent Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands) and David Harbour, Natalia Dyer and some of Hollywood’s top young actors including Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp as well as  stand-out actor British Charlie Heaton to bring the story to life!

The world is suffering from a sense of nostalgia and all things 80’s or anything resembling the wholesome world that made more sense is comforting to escape to. Mixing those emotions with misgiving terror and enough perplexity and cliffhangers, it brews in flying colours a massive success!

The Strangers

“Not everything that moves, breathes, and talks is alive.”

This ‘2016’ Drama/Fantasy/Horror written and directed by South-Korean master-mind and film-maker Hong-jin Na who has had past films nominated at the Cannes Film Festival surprised us once again with a nod of approval with Cannes in 2016, with this gem of a film called: ‘’Goksung’ or ‘The Strangers’ or ‘The Wailing’ as the titles it was released under in some countries.

I was in awe because this film was exceptional. There was a valuable amount of symbolism and superb execution of unfolding this story from start to finish. I feel viewers were kept on their toes and were invited to use their intellect to figure out the eminent mystery that caused the sickness within the small Korean town. The acting was superb! Some were first-time actors, others well marinated in the field but all under obvious and commendable strong directing. Do-won Kwak, Woo-hee Chun, Hwan-hee Kim and Jun Kunimura shone and made the story quite believable.

They got 31 nominations and 18 wins and the film is still being talked about today. Mostly for the story, but also for the excellent unnerving make-up work, fascinating camera-work and angles as well as the splendid cinematography captured with South-Korea’s bewitching landscapes.

Certainly recommended - slow developing but highly enticing. The ‘fear’ factor comes much later as the story leads us by the hand one step at a time, and suddenly tricks us towards the end.

Ink

This 2009 film was written, directed, edited and composed by Colorado -born Jamin Winans; it is one of the most marvelous films I've seen this year. This film spoke depths to me; it was enchanting yet terrifying, simple yet intricate, supernatural yet real and alive yet also invisible. One could see how much love and dedication was put into this film.

The cinematography was magnificent and the Incubi creatures I thought to be mesmerizing as even though they were dark and menacing, they simply whispered and smiled. I thought there were too many characters that filtered in, and that if Winans spent more time on the main characters, the audience would be able to connect on a grander scale. The acting however was decent and Quinn who plays one of the main characters Emma was cute as a button. Christopher Soren Kelly who played Emma's father, John, also did an extensive job at displaying a rage of emotions.

Ink was not picked up by any big name studio but was downloaded on Bit Torrent and other downloading movie programs online by 400,000 users within its first week only. It was artistic and action-filled but also was filled with dreams and hope. People could identify with this film because it dealt with intuition, strength and battles we all face within. We journey along with one man's dreams and nightmares as he tries to distinguish what is true so that he will not lose his soul. This ride is visually thrilling and wonderful and we are glued to our screens till the very last drop.

Certainly my-kind-of-film and inspiration to all those who have dreams worth fighting for and sticking with it like Winans did; creating cinematic brilliance for the world to enjoy, like other charming fantasy films as 'Amelie', 'Pan's Labyrinth' and 'The Matrix'! J