MovieMaddis

I saw Countdown recently after it was recommended on a foreign movie Oscar board and I think the movie may leave you quite divided. The first act is brilliant. Fun, tense, interesting characters, it all works well for the set up of 3 Thai college students in New York for the New Year's celebration. They order drugs and find Jesus, played by David Asavanod, at the door eager to sell, hangout and generally freak out everyone in the apartment. It is referenced in the movie a couple of times but he is the literal Tsunami actor. An absolute animal. Charismatic, powerful, scary, funny. David completely owns this role and will hook anyone into his frightening portrayal of a fringe drug dealer with a score to settle. Without giving too much away, Jesus has his reasons for being there and they aren't just to sell drugs. When he goes from fluent English to fluent Thai without missing a beat and completely selling it - I was slackjawed. Despite David's amazing and convincing performance the film itself goes a bit off the rails at the halfway point. And rushing to a tidy conclusion it leaves you wanting in the end. However, watch it. Asavanod IS the next big thing. He will get bigger parts, he will be major player. I watch a ton of movies, foreign and domestic, and this is the guy - believe it! Maddis 7/10

I admit, there were moments of fun but if you have seen Inside or Frontiers, you will instantly recognize the elements "reimagined" from both. This is the Indonesian version of those two movies with some nice gore but unfortunately not much originality. I would imagine if this was new to some, it could stand as a worthy horror entry but just pales in comparison to the films from which it borrowed. So, recommended but with an asterisk at the bottom.

Frontiers was no doubt a French take on Texas Chainsaw but there were enough nuance elements to make it interesting - the Nazi bloodline, the pigs, the original death scenes all made it entertaining. Inside, IMO, was simply brilliant. Awash in a blood soaked homage to a female Michael Michaels stalking a pregnant women in her home, it had several cringe worthy contrived plot devices (the cops for God sakes!), but it manages to pull off a sympathetic antagonist at the end.

Now back to Macabre...one thing they did well was to inject some humor and male machismo into an otherwise derivative plot. The idea is of course to make you forget reality and this movie will do that. The blood soaked walls and carnage that remains at the end somewhat discredits the supposed craziness of the family given how meticulously clean and white everything is in the beginning scenes of the home. If you are a horror fan, don't miss it. If you are a fan with international taste, you may be a bit turned off by the repeated themes and copied scenes throughout.

Maddis

Wow, what a trainwreck. Where to begin...I suppose by this time you have more than recognized Cuba's downward spiral but teaming him up with Slater is an even more embarrassing turn for both actors. Slater has been pawning off his creepy yet campy style for years now and occasionally pulls of an entertaining performance (Dolan's Cadallac, He was a quiet man), but here he just swims in the dreck. Horribly miscast as a priest, he can do little more but smirk at the camera and look at his shoes. Devon Bostik is laughable as a drug dealer - I mean really, Wimpy's kid's big brother is now a tough guy? Just a total mess and a shame for all involved. I had hopes that Cuba would rebound at some point, but he seems determine to join Wesley and Steven Seagal in the DTV "worst of" series. Seriously, don't waste your time or money on this, bad bad bad.