Lord of Tears

Many people associate the genre of horror with blood, guts and gore of movies like Saw and Friday The 13th, and while they aren't wrong, they aren't necessarily seeing the whole picture that encompasses the genre.  Blood and gore isn't really there to scare people, per se, but to shock and disgust.  While I'm certainly drawn to those kinds of movies, sometimes the better movie is one that involves NONE of that.  A movie that is atmospheric and instills a sense of foreboding and dread.  The horror genre was designed, primarily, to instill a sense of fear in the audience, and for most of us, it really doesn't happen that much anymore, because more and more movies are more focused on how to torture and slaughter their victims.  That's not scary.  It's cringe-inducing, and sometimes not in a good way.  Some of the more effective horror films are far more atmospheric and focus more on the story and the characters, like a good movie should do.  Some of the more atmospheric films include the old Hammer horror films of the 50's and 60's.  That brings me to Lord of Tears, a horror film that relies more on atmosphere and old mythologies to give the audience a sense of dread.

Lord of Tears opens on a teacher, James(Euan Douglas), being informed that he is the sole inheritor of a vast property which includes an old house in Scotland.  He is also given a letter from his late mother, telling him NOT to go back to the house, due to his experiences as a child.  James decides to go to the house and explore, to try and remember his childhood.  He encounters a lovely American woman, named Eve(Lexy Hulme), and they begin to explore the house.  The more James explores the house, the more he begins to experience visions of a disturbing being, a being that has the body of a man, but the talons and head of an owl.  Is he going insane?  Or is there something more sinister at work?  The story is unique and has a few unexpected twists and turns.  It's dark and foreboding and pretty intense.

The acting is actually not bad, more than what I would've expected from a low-budget horror movie.  Euan Douglas does a pretty good job as a teacher that's haunted by his past and tortured by visions of an "owl man."  Lexe Hulme is beautiful and does a good job at bringing a sense of mystery to the film.  And boy, what a mystery it is.  This movie is a bit of a slow-burner, so people who are more interested in getting scared right away, are most likely to be disappointed.  Where this movie really succeeds is allowing us to tag along with the characters and experience what they are experiencing.  It's more of a journey and character study on how one would deal with a paranormal/supernatural situation, that may or may not be driven by psychosis.  That being said, there is actually very little in the way of actual violence, even though there is some blood, but it's not hard R-rated violence, in fact, I would consider it PG-13 in a way.

While the main leads are human, the real characters of this film are the house, the surrounding areas, the music and of course, the owl man who I will get to momentarily.  This is a gorgeously shot film, taking place almost entirely in Scotland, with extremely beautiful vistas and mountain ranges that really add to the film's atmosphere.  The cinematography is astounding and the attention to detail, from the mountains, to the house, to the worms crawling on the ground.  It is very artistic and very beautiful to look at, especially if you've got this movie on Blu-Ray.  It's stunning.  On the audio side, the music is excellent.  It's haunting and beautiful to listen to.  It has a very Gothic feel to it that really complements everything that you see.  It's not heavy-metal, thankfully, it's more instrumental, slow and methodical.  It's impressive.  The sounds of the house and everything in the environment is appropriately spooky. Now, about the Owl Man:  The character is a man with the head and talons of an owl.  He is voiced by David Schofield, who you might remember as one of the villains in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  I have no idea what any of the lines he says means, but he says it with such deliberately quiet malice, that it doesn't matter, this is a character to be feared.  He is also referred to as Moloch, an actual mythological god from ancient Phoenicia, who accepted child sacrifices by fire, and referenced even in the bible. 

If there is one downside is that the ending to the movie is a little cliche, but that's it.  Overall, what we have here is a very unique film with a unique experience.  It's extremely atmospheric and really sends shivers down your spine.  The character of Owl Man is appropriately menacing and memorable and I hope to see more of him in the future.  The visuals and music of Lord of Tears are something to behold.  Is it a mystery?  Is it a ghost story, or a supernatural thriller?  It's all of the above.  Lawrie Brewster put together an amazing film that has surprisingly high-production values, despite it's low-budget nature.  If any of you are sick and tired of the gore-fests and torture movies, and want a more intelligent and thoughtful film, Lord of Tears is definitely for you.  It's an experience.  Overall, I give Lord of Tears a 9.5/10.  Check this one out.

Abduction of Eden

Typically, when I do a film review, it's just generally about the film, and not much else, a trailer here, a plot synopsis there; that's pretty much it. Very rarely, do I come across a movie that is not only realistic, but also deals with fairly brutal industries. And I try not to do a Public Service Announcement. But this is a special case. I've seen many movies that deal with human trafficking, some are action films, like Taken. Others are horror movies or thrillers. Some of them are so over the top, that they can't be taken seriously. Some are gritty, but are not realistic. But the one thing they have in common, is that they try to shine a light on a very real and very serious crime. Abduction of Eden is based on a true story of a woman who was abducted in the mid-90s, and forced into prostitution, along with many other young girls.

Abduction of Eden opens as two underage girls enter a bar to get drinks, one of the girls, Hyun Jae(Jamie Chung)is hit on by a good-looking "fireman." Hyun Jae takes a ride with this guy and ends up getting abducted by a mysterious person. She wakes up in the back of a truck along with another girl. She's knocked out and wakes up in a warehouse wearing an ankle bracelet. She's informed by the head honcho, Bob Gault(Beau Bridges), who also happens to be a U.S. Marshall, telling her what's going on. One of his henchman, Vaughan(Matt O'Leary)takes a bit of a liking to her. In order to survive, she has to be willing to give up the one thing that's been taken from her, freedom, and become a part of the sex slave industry. The story is very compelling and heartbreaking, and told tastefully. This story is based on a real-life account of Chong Kim, who was abducted and forced into slavery from 1995 to 1997, when she escaped. Eden is different from other movies that deal with sex slavery, in that it takes a very personal and up-close approach to what happens behind the scenes. Now, you don't actually see anything going on, it's not that kind of movie, but you definitely know what's going, and it's all the more disturbing because of that. And it's not overly violent, so gore-hounds, turn away. What he have here is a very human story of a victim who has been forced to take drastic measures in order to survive, and to do that she had to actively take part in an industry where millions are victimized every day.

The performances in this film are extraordinary, but it's Jamie Chung who steals the show. She doesn't go overboard with crying like a baby, but she internalizes and you see that she's been defeated, so she is forced to accept her reality, and it's heart-breaking. Beau Bridges is fantastic as the person who runs the show. He doesn't come across as overtly sinister, as he's somewhat likable, despite that what he's doing is evil, and the fact that he's in a position of real authority is all the more disturbing. The other guy who is really spectacular is Matt O'Leary as Vaughan. This is a guy who is a junkie, and is nearly unhinged, but O'Leary, brings it down a couple of notches to make him more realistic. Vaughan is a scumbag, no doubt about it, but through O'Leary's performance, you begin to see that Vaughan is having issues with his....position and what he's doing, but you get the sense that he's just as trapped as Hyun Jae.

Overall, this is a very good movie, that's intense, dramatic and heartbreaking, and yet there's a great deal of humanity here, even on the part of the villains; they're not cookie-cutter. If there's a downside to this movie, it's that the last 15 minutes of the film are just basic thriller material, nothing particular great, but that doesn't diminish the power that this film has. This is a movie that should serve not just as entertainment, but as a wake-up call. I give Abduction of Eden a solid 9/10.

Now that the review is done, I'm going to do something a little different here. So please, bear with me. Slavery has been around for as long as mankind has walked the earth, this is nothing new. Every great civilization that has come before us, is guilty of it. Even the United States is guilty of it. It's what sparked the Civil War. But what most people don't realize, is that legally speaking, while slavery has been abolished in the United States and in most civilized countries around the world, it's still going on. It just went underground, and it's taken different forms: Sex slavery, illegal immigration, organ harvesting, and forced labor. While slavery is a horrendous crime, sex slavery is the worst of it, with millions of women and children being sold like pieces of meat around the world, even here in the United States. Recent estimates place the number at 30 million currently enslaved or born into it. The question: "What can we do about it?" Knowledge is power. The more people know about this insidious practice, the better the odds of finding and helping the victims will be. There are groups out there that are dedicated to fighting this practice and helping the victims of human trafficking. For more information, please see the following websites:

http://www.freetheslaves.net/
http://www.walkfree.org/
http://www.stopinternational.org/
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

Even if you can't donate any money, spread the word. You can make a difference.