Quid Pro Quo

Before talented American beauty Vera Farmiga became successful and did films like ‘Source Code’, ‘Up in the Air’ and ‘The Conjuring’ she did little and obscure films like 2008’s ‘Quid Pro Quo’. This mysterious thriller grasped my attention because it dealt with an interesting subject matter dealing with individuals who want to be disabled. Our main character ‘Isaac Knott’ played by Nick Stahl is a radio reporter keen on finding out more about this strange phenomena and the audience follows him along on this peculiar adventure.

Written and directed by Carlos Brooks this story proved to be riveting and jaw-dropping to the core; not to mention the ‘Quid Pro Quo’ - what was the something that needed to be given or taken to find out more? Farmiga delivered the unusual wonderfully but the story promising greatness fell short and became more and more outlandish by the minute.

This film made less than $7000 USD at the box-office and I’m hoping they didn’t spend more than that to make it. It just goes to show that there are many things that need to come together to ensure the success of a film. The acting is one thing. Marketing another. And the story. Well folks; that’s probably the most important of them all. If you haven’t a story to keep the viewer’s attention, then you may as well not make the film at all. I was disappointed in how this story turned out and wished I found out what happened with the characters before they rolled the credits.

The Conjuring

I love a good scare. The more facts, the more real, the more exciting a film is for me. I'd heard many great things about this film and from my research I've found out that this film is indeed based on real, true events during the 1970's. This 2013 Horror/Thriller written/adapted by Chad and Carey Hayes and directed by Malysian James Wan (whom you may remember directing 'Insiduous' and 'Saw') certainly made a wonderfully hair-raising film. Was it completely traumatic, alarming or chilling? For the majority of movie-goers, that would be a distinct yes. Wan has peaked his film-making abilities in being able to regurgitate in a most excellent way of evoking these fearful emotions. For me, however, sadly it was a distinct, definite and dreadful  let-down. 

The research, marketing, strategy of fear tactics as well as educational factors and great line-up of cast proved to be quite successful at the box-office. With a budget of a whopping $20 million USD, within the film's first 3 days in cinemas, they made back double with almost $42 million USD, and within a short month even larger than quadrupled with a gross of $131 million USD.

The detail to story, phenomenal chemistry and acting as well as snazzy film used and camera angles and techniques added to the thrilling entertainment for this movie's audience. Lovable Patrick Wilson whom you may remember from 'Insiduous', 'Hard Candy' and 'Little Children', piercing blue-eyed and extraordinary actress Ukranian-American Vera Farmiga whom you may remember from 'Source Code' and 'Up in the Air', gentle-faced Lili Taylor whom you may recall from 'Ransom' and 'The Haunting' and funny-man Ron Livingston from 'Office Space' and 'Swingers' lent their commitment and expertise on set. Joey King for me who plays young 'Christine' is the young up-and-coming actress that stood out for me, whose career has now been pivoted into the spotlight and may be soon known as a young Angelina Jolie.

Anything bizarre, unexplainable and different is seen as 'weird' or 'scary' in society and because of this I can see why many movie-goers found this one to be high on the scary charts. Despite this film's excellent story-telling, it did not deliver as much fear as I'd have liked. There were great tactics used for the climax of surprise, but not enough endurance or long-lasting petrifying effects that our classic horror films left us with. I'd give a silver star for effort and being worthy but there have been other films that have gotten me a lot more sensationally bothersome.