Review of Cecil B. Demented (2000) by Torsten D — 04 Aug 2004

[b]THE HOWLING (Joe Dante, 1981) - 4.5 / con.

[/b]Werewolf movies are really not my cup of tea. "The Howling" wasn't an exception.

During the first third the low budget limitations are fully visible. Here the film also lacks timing.

The transformation scenes are well done and the film does not fail to horrify.

The ending, however, is pretty goofy and ridiculous and doesn't make any sense at all.

And why this film is advertised as a horror-comedy is also beyond me.

[b]LE BOUCHER / THE BUTCHER (Claude Chabrol, 1969) - 7.5 / pro[/b].

"Le Boucher" was my first Chabrol film and it made at least curious to take a look at more of his work.

Actually, the film is pretty good, but that result is based more on the writing than the directing. The films shows how fear and crime slowly move their way into the life of female teacher. It's not hard to guess the ending pretty soon, but the film doesn't rely on it. This fact makes it worthwhile, because in the end the murderer is a person that you may feel pity for. What happens in this film wouldn't have happened if fate had had another plan. It's not a crime movie only, but also a film about rejected love and the consequences to a mind that was already screwed.

The reason why I don't rate it higher is based on the sometimes awkward direction. The continuity is sometimes clumsy and the transition shots don't work. And why did Chabrol use a plastic hand, if that is all we see about a corpse?

[b]CECIL B. DEMENTED (John Waters, 2000) - 4.0 / con[/b].

It's hard to dislike the film at the beginning. The idea of a bunch of guerilla filmmakers, who want to punish the bad mainstream cinema, is likeable. However, after 30 minutes it becomes pretentious, whiny and preachy. This is a message movie and it tries to bring its message home with a sledge-hammer. A headache is guaranteed. The problem is that this film tries to tell the viewer what is right and what is wrong. The viewer is never allowed to think about things for himself. This film is not an experience, it's a lecture.