The vogue for retro-horror, particularly the stripped-down shivers of 1970s slasher flicks, continues apace in this nasty little piece of work from Australia. Written and directed with an eye toward Hollywood by the enterprising Greg McLean, Wolf Creek explains why traveling in the Outback without a couple of guns and a man-eating Rottweiler is never a good idea, especially when — like the three nitwits at the center of this creepfest — you're young, nubile and don't know the first thing about fixing cars.
McLean, whose resume indicates an extensive background directing commercials and short films, has clearly watched his share of genre favorites. Using a mixture of old-school hokum and new-school hucksterism ("based on true events" flashes at the start of the film), he keeps his storytelling tight and the plot admirably pared down.
Three young party people (played by Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi and Nathan Phillips) break down far from civilization and phone lines, whereupon they are rescued by a bushman (a fantastically effective John Jarratt) with a peculiar glottal giggle. As the bushman tows their car through the spooky night fog, the three young people, all of whom are now wearing little invisible bull's-eyes in the middle of their foreheads, work themselves into a contagious frenzy: McLean has apparently watched his share of Val Lewton, the legendary B-movie producer (the original Cat People) who could raise shivers just by dimming the lights.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF GROUP POWER
Alas, McLean's commitment to contemporary genre expectations turns out to be unwavering and what follows these imaginative night tremors is just the usual butchery. Lest we forget, this is a film that comes with the tagline, "The thrill is in the hunt."
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist