the shape of horrors to come

[JussiK]

The future may look promising for fans of horror films as now that (the sadly bulimic) F vs J has topped the US box office there's bound to be renewed interest from distributors to check out genre product. CABIN FEVER is an okay teens-in-distress-in-the-backwoods comedy horror with a couple of Evil deadesque gross out sequences. A flesh devouring virus reduces rednecks and your usual teens into decaying wrecks and much screaming and throwing up blood ensues. Some of the jokes are enjoyably sick and watch for the leg shaving scene. No tension whatsoever, though. OCTANE has a good tension-filled first half but goes down the loo fast with modern vampires on a highway shot in the now eyesore flashy MTV style, with lots of posing and constant music that ruins what little scares there might have been. Not so in TATTOO, an absolute nailbiter. This is sort of se7en once again only more bizarre. A rookie cop investigates deaths of individuals who have had their intricate japanese-style tattoos cut off their skin. The photography is stylish, the chill/techno score good and the effects truly stomachchurning. Even more severe is the original unedited French version of HAUTE TENSION/SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE. This bombed in France, apparently due to the level of violence that was beyond what is commercially acceptable in a film screned in a multiplex, as opposed in an arthouse. The maniac loose in an isolated country mansion plot is nothing new but you haven't seen such intense scares and un-p/c nastiness since AUDITION. If this comes near you in an unedited form be there first in line. - Brian Yuzna's new Re-Animator film disappointed many at Frightfest, but MALEFIQUE and the new JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 went down well. JC 2 is by Victor "Powder" Salva so expect gratuitous scenes of young men suntanning and simply walking about with no shirts on.