Connect with us

News

Fantastic Fest 2019: ‘The Golden Glove’ A Challenging, Chilling Examination of a Serial Killer

Published

on

Golden

The intro to The Golden Glove was an interesting and almost concerning. Before the premiere at Fantastic Fest we were greeted by a host that let the audience know a total of 4 times that this movie was going to be intense, that film critics had described it as ‘vile’ and she even let the audience know that if they couldn’t handle it, nobody would be offended if they left the theater all together. She left everyone looking around at each other with the hive concern of “What are we about to experience and what have we got ourselves into?”

The Golden Glove focuses on serial killer Fritz Honka. A raging, violent alcoholic from Hamburg who spent his time using the local bar, The Golden Glove as his hunting grounds from 70’ to 75’.

The films director, Fatih Akin was actually from the neighborhood that Honka was from. Akin even described how relatives of his had even rode the bus with Honka at a certain point. The portrait is given its furious and unrelenting approach from a guy who was a kid while all this was going down. Part of what he must have pictured at the time is brought over and thrown up on the screen for us to experience the way he had as a youth.

Honka is played by sublimely by Jonas Dassler. The transformation that Dassler achieves both physically and psychologically is dazzling. When we are first introduced to Honka he is attempting to shuffle a body down some stairs for disposal. When a little girl comes out to see what the noise is she and we are met with what is essentially the boogie man himself. Dassler turns to us as an audience and as well as the little girl and shoos her off scaring the pants off of us and the small girl. The make up effects in applied to Dassler deserve awards on their own, transforming the handsome young actor into a twisted take on the actual Honka. Dassler grabs hold of you, embodying all of Honka’s proclivities and perversions and takes the audience along the journey kicking and screaming.

When I say this film is gross or disgusting, it has very little to do with the violence in the film. Although that is brutal as well. It instead has to do with the dinge that stains the films runtime. Everything is tainted and almost rotting in front of you. The people that occupy The Golden Glove are worn, and scarred or fouled in someway. The entire thing leaves you with the need to take a shower after the films over.

For all the ugliness in the film, Akin and editor Andrew Bird do a beautiful job of making this film an absolute achievement in cinema. The result is something so powerful that hours after the film you still feel like you are inside Honka’s flat. The execution is entirely flawless. It is a production design that rings a little too true and then pushes that further into a grimy, lonely black hole.

Editor, Bird is entirely precise with every cut and decision that he brings to the film. One scene in-particular features the sound of a woman screaming, while the actual scene depicts a boiled goat head’s jaw being yanked open and its tongue by a pair of scissors. The screaming ceases with that clip. The choice is a standout moment. Someone give this dude all of the editing awards right now.

The Golden Glove is hard film to recommend. Its fantastic film… and yet, its difficult to push someone else into experiencing it. Our hosts intro was correct. It isn’t an enjoyable film. It’s tainted, tragic and vicious. I’ve gone back and forth on it and realized it had got me and that inability to let it go is the ultimate sign of truly great cinema. I hate to say it, but I loved it.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

on

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

on

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

on

Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading