The Gratuitous B-Movie Column 11.16.09: Issue #81 - Wild Country Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 11.16.2009
In this issue, we take a look at the 2005 low budget horror flick "Wild Country," and then some B-movie musings about Stallone's new "Rambo 5," Wesley Snipes, and more
The Gratuitous B-Movie Column Issue #81: "Wild Country" (2005)
Hello, everyone, and welcome once again to the internets movie review column that has never tried to deliberately run anyone over with a steamroller, The Gratuitous B-Movie Column, and I am your host Bryan Kristopowitz. In this issue, issue number eighty-one, I take a look at the 2005 Scottish low budget horror flick "Wild Country."
Wild Country
"Wild Country," written and directed by Craig Strachan, is one of those low budget horror flicks that wastes very little time getting to where it wants to go, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because, when it comes to low budget monster movies (or any kind of monster movie, really) you generally want to get to the situation with the monster as quickly as possible as that's what the audience has come to see. "Wild Country" does that very, very well. But, and this is the "bad" thing, the movie could have used a tad more explanation, especially at the beginning, as I'm a tad bit confused on what precisely is going on.
The flick starts out with teenager Kelly Ann (Samantha Shields) giving birth only to have her newborn child whisked away by government and or church officials (I'm going to assume that Kelly Ann is part of some troubled youth government program or something. It's never really explained. Do Scottish audiences instinctively know what's going on? Anyone out there know?). Six weeks later, Kelly Ann goes on an overnight trip to the woods with two guys and a girl (the girl is Louise, as played by Nicola Muldoon, and I believe the guys are David and Mark, as played by Kevin Quinn and Jamie Quinn). After getting dropped off by their church chaperone (that would be Father Steve, as played by Peter Capaldi), the teen group meets up with a hip and edgy hoodlum named Lee (Martin Compston) and they go off into the deepest, darkest woods to have a night of sex and booze and deep philosophical conversation (well, for the most part that's what's going on here).
So, some stuff happens, the gang argues amongst themselves, they break up to go off on their own little adventures, and then some really bad stuff happens. A shepherd they meet while walking into the woods gets attacked by a giant wolf bear creature (and when I say attacked I mean goddamn attacked), Kelly Ann and Lee find an abandoned castle chock full of rotting dead bodies and a very living human baby, and suddenly the wolf bear creature is after Kelly Ann, Lee, Louise, David, and Mark.
There's no help to be found anywhere (there's no cell phone reception where they are so it's not like they can call the police or Father Steve). The survivors of the initial wolf bear attack are on their own. What the heck are they going to do?
I'm not going to spoil what it is that the survivors do, but it's an incredibly satisfying solution to their problem. Considering the situation they find themselves in, it really is the only thing they can do besides just giving up and being eaten. I'm also not going to spoil the ending, which comes out of nowhere, is an actual surprise, and, like almost everything else in "Wild Country," makes sense. It doesn't feel like a cheat.
Strachan's direction isn't flashy and complicated. He doesn't use any of that quick cut editing hooey and he never shies away from the nastiness of the monster. When a character gets his intestines ripped out we see that character's intestines spill out of the body cavity along with a massive heaping of blood, gore, and grue. That's always a plus in a monster movie. Strachan has also managed to find some truly spooky forest locations (and that "castle" location is pretty dang creepy, too. It's a rather sparse location comes across as so darkly overwhelming). And I don't think I can stress this enough, I want to commend Strachan for wasting very little time in getting to the point and then never letting up once the nastiness starts up. Making the movie only 72 minutes, as far as I'm concerned, is freaking brilliant. I just wish I knew a little more about the initial setting and what it is these kids are a part of (is it a church group? Government group? Both? Is it some kind of troubled youth thing? Are they in, for the lack of a better word, an orphanage?).
And I also want to commend Strachan on filling the flick up with practical monster effects. I don't really have anything against CGI effects in low budget movies, but it's always a treat to see someone use as many "man in suit"/rubber monster gags as "Wild Country" does. The wolf bear creature, at first, looks kind of weird (my first thought was what the hell is that thing supposed to be? A guy in a bear suit?) but then, the more we get to see it, the more it kicks ass. I know I sure as hell wouldn't want to go to Scotland and run into that fucking thing.
The cast is pretty decent. Samantha Shields does a great job as the lead character Kelly Ann. It's quite awful watching her child removed from her arms at the beginning, and it's kind of uplifting to see her motherly instincts at work helping the abandoned baby from the castle. The young male characters are interesting, especially Martin Compston's Lee. I'm still not sure what exactly his deal is in the story, why he meets the others in the woods, but Compston is sarcastic and charismatic and it helps you overlook the questions. And Peter Capaldi is hilarious as Father Steve, especially towards the end of the movie (I'll just say this. The man is a sinner). I do wish I knew what the hell he was talking about in the car, though, that local cannibal legend thing (I think it's called Sunni Bean or something like that).
Now, aside from the lack of initial context in the story, my only other real complaint about the movie is (and, I'm sorry for being an ignorant American here) the characters' heavy Scottish accents. Even with the subtitles on it was hard to understand what the hell the characters were saying most of the time (the slang was pretty unnerving, too). I don't think the movie should be dubbed, though, into "standard" or "easier to understand" English because that would rob the movie of some of its charm. Maybe just use less slang next time, so ignorant Americans like me can understand the dialog? I apologize to the people of Scotland for being such a douchebag.
I love this flick. "Wild Country" is just a great movie watching experience. Even with the accents and the initial confusion. Easily one of the best low budget Scottish monster movies made this decade and one you should absolutely, positively make an effort to see. Just a blast.
See "Wild Country." See it, see it, see it.
So what do we have here? Gratuitous young teen woman giving birth, gratuitous forced adoption (?), gratuitous troubled teen church group, gratuitous hip and edgy priest, gratuitous Scottish local cannibal legend story, gratuitous driving off joke, cell phone hooey, testicle kicking, weird noises off in the distance, gratuitous sheepherder, a weird beard bed and breakfast/Scottish inn out in the middle of nowhere, gratuitous young people pitching tents in the woods, eating beans from a can, gratuitous young people drinking alcohol, a switchblade knife, throat ripping, wood carving, gratuitous old castle out in the middle of nowhere filled with rotting dead bodies, a crying baby, breast feeding, bloody intestines, a potentially broken arm, gratuitous praying to Mother Mary, gratuitous improvised flame machine, more throat ripping, urination, stair attack, a big ass surprise, attacking a big ass monster with a switchblade knife, gratuitous talk about Mad Cow disease, an absolutely awesome and disgusting creature birthing effect, and a surprise ending that's actually surprising.
Best lines: "You made a family today, Kelly Ann," "I'm not crazy, I'm laid back," "No, I don't hear nothing," "Fuck off," "Is Lee your boyfriend?," "You've got to be fucking kidding me!," "What the fuck is that smell?," "Just fucking pick him up!," "Fuck the baby! Fuck it!," "What do you want, eh?," "Problems?," "But if I'm pregnant you're paying for the abortion!," and "Jesus Christ!"
Rating: 9.0/10.0
***
And now, some assorted B-movie news and other musings
Well, it sounds like Sylvester Stallone has decided to wimp out with his proposed "Rambo 5" story.
According to aint-it-cool-news and various other internets movie outlets, Stallone has decided not to have John Rambo fighting a monster. Instead, Stallone plans on having Rambo fight Mexican drug/human traffickers or something. Stallone insists that he will eventually get to the "guy hunting a monster" story but it will feature a different character leading the hunt.
What a bummer. Yeah, it'll be cool to have another "Rambo" flick, sure, but I was really looking forward to seeing Rambo in a straight up horror movie. I guess, in retrospect, that this proposed story was too good to be true and that no one should have taken it too seriously. John Rambo fighting a genetically created monster? What?
And let's all hope that Stallone doesn't decide to make a PG-13 "Rambo" movie with part five. I'm not saying it can't be done and done well, it's just, after the awesome gorefest Stallone gave us with part four, why throttle back? Why skimp on the exploding heads now?
(Go here to see the awesome footage. Someone disabled the embedding so I can't put it here. Punk asses).
***
What the heck is up with Wesley Snipes?
Why isn't he in jail (I don't want to see him in jail because if he's in jail he can't keep kicking ass in movies, I'm just asking why he hasn't been sent to jail yet. He is a convicted tax cheat)? And when the heck are we going to see "Gallowwalker," that movie where he's a cowboy in the old west that has to kill zombies or whatever? We've been waiting like three years for that movie to come out. What the heck is the delay?
According to imdb.com, Snipes has just finished working on a movie for director Antoine Fuqua called "Brooklyn's Finest" (Richard Gere is apparently in it, as Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke, but who gives a fuck about them? It's about time Blade got a chance to do something in a theatrical setting. Now, I wouldn't mind seeing Don Cheadle have a kung fu fight with Snipes. That'd be pretty cool to see). And he's apparently working on a movie with Zoe Bell and the Robert Davi called "Game of Death" which sounds promising (any time you've got Robert Davi in your movie it sounds promising).
Here's a Snipes classic trailer for your viewing pleasure:
And this one is just as awesome:
***
Live Evil update
"Live Evil," the great new Tim Thomerson vampire flick (also featuring an appearance by the great Ken Foree) is now on Video on Demand. Check out my review for the flick here, and then, if it's on your cable system, order it. It's a great flick, and you will not be disappointed.
The flick now also has a firm DVD release date. According to its MySpace page, "Live Evil" will hit DVD February 23rd, 2010. That's only a few months away, so remember that date, and be sure to keep an eye on the MySpace page and the flick's new Facebook page for further updates/developments.
***
And here's a bit of good news to report: I finally found "Night of the Creeps" in an actual store, I bought it, and I checked out some of the special features this past weekend. I didn't get to watch the flick with the commentaries or the trivia track, but I did get a chance to check out the "making of" documentary. What the hell happened to Jason Lively? The guy looks like he's living in a fat suit. He's still cool and funny and whatever, but, man, where the heck has he been and what the heck has he been doing?
"I don't look like this anymore. But what do you expect? I'm like 40 now."
I can't wait to check out the rest of the DVD's special features. Gonna need some time to do it, though. That's always lacking.
***
Well, I think that'll be about it for this issue. B-movies rule. Always remember that. And if there's anything you want to see reviewed here in this column, feel free to offer a comment below or send me an e-mail. I'm always on the lookout for new stuff to watch.
And don't forget to bookmark 411 via the little line below. You'll be glad you did.
"Wild Country"
Samantha Shields- Kelly Ann Martin Compston- Lee Peter Capaldi- Father Steve Kevin Quinn- David Nicola Muldoon- Louise Jamie Quinn- Mark Karen Fraser- Missy Alan McHugh- Shepherd
Directed by Craig Strachan Screenplay by Craig Strachan
Distributed by Lionsgate
Rated Rfor horror violence and gore, and language Runtime- 72 minutes
