Left for Dead

Saw an advance copy of this film which comes out next month. Good lord what a mind trip. It's both beautifully affecting and horribly shocking. I haven't seen a film with so much intense pain and love in a long time. It just gets under your skin then chews into your heart. The story is a ghost story and as it is with most ghost stories, tragedy is at it's core. The actors in this film are so vivid that they didn't seem to be acting, especially the main one Victoria Maurete. Her acting is so powerful that I could feel what she was going through. I haven't seen her before but damn was she moving and beautiful. Those eyes of hers are unreal. I won't give away much because surprising revelations is what pushes this story forward. But be forewarned that this is a very intense and original western. I loved it.

While searching for a deadly bandit that happens to be her husband, a woman joins an all-female posse hunting him down and eventually tracks him to a remote mining town haunted by a vengeful ghost intent on not letting them leave alive.

While this one wasn't too bad, there's not a lot here to really get much enjoyment out of this one. This is mainly due to the fact that there's just not a whole lot of horror elements to go around, as most of the time it's a Western film, as it's set in the 1880s, for instance, and while that makes a nice impression as to the uniqueness of the setting, it never really does a lot with it's horror elements. The ghost has a few bits of screen-time, which is fine as it's to dish out the kills or chases around the town, but the majority of the time is spent with the group spouting off at each other or an incredibly lame drama about the relationship between them all, and it just makes it hard to stay invested in the middle. Also problematic is the fact that it tends to show-off some pretty nifty camera tricks that are just plain pointless and irritating, from the slow-motion shots to the never-ending series of flash-effects used during the sequences. Add in more gunshots for the cause of death than anything despite some decent deaths when it matters, and it's a disappointing effort overall.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity.

So, I finally got to see Albert Pyun's most recent effort. A strange western about a foreign woman (along with a bunch of local women) hunting down her ex (who happens to have impregnated the daughter of one of them) into a town haunted by a ghost who's sworn revenge over those women.

I was drawn by this film. Firstly, because it's Albert Pyun, and no matter how bizarre the film is, there's always something I find cool in his film. Secondly, the movie was shot in my country, and now checking with IMDb, it has an almost completely local cast.

Pyun abuses of the slow-motion effect in this movie. That and an excess of cutting during the "action" scenes produces annoyance. Other than that, the story was good, and it could have been improved with a better budget (no, I didn't say director). THere're tons of blood, deaths and gore too, which will please fans of horror/slasher movies.

Victoria Maurette, of whom I've noticed in stupid teen flicks, has left me stunned. I didn't know she could actually act, and matter of fact, I didn't even recognise her (again, thanks IMDb). The rest of the actors are OK too, especially the one playing Moebius Lockwood (who looks terrific), but she delivered quite a good performance. Too good actually.

This film should be held in the same light as Pyun's "Omega Doom". It has its resemblances and differences, some more noticeable than others. But they're both unusual, peculiar movies, which depart from standards.

Overall, it's watchable. Not a film to watch again, though. So much for a film which was supposedly the second part of a trilogy started with "Mean Guns", which is a film that I personally have watched at least 20 times, and I'd watch it 20 times more if I had the opportunity.

Albie, get back to that sort of flicks!

In the past 5 years the independent cinema here in Argentina and throughout South America has become quite accomplished. This is another example of taking an ordinary story and providing a artistic touch. The images are magnificent! And Victoria Maurette is amazing as Clem. She looks like she stepped into the film from a Sergio Leone movie. Wonderful eyes and face. She has amazing intensity and belief. She is a new star I think. The others were good but some like Marianna Seligman were just okay. At times she seemed embarrassing but Victoria overcomes the others and keeps the film a head above.

This film has been playing around Buenos Ares in a bad copy so I would very much like to watch with a good copy. The crew did a good job as well and the visuals, sound music were all A level. I hope they make a sequel to this as more Maurette is very good!

"Left For Dead" has a dreamlike, hauntingly chilling atmosphere from the beginning to the end. There is not too much landscape, there are not too much environmental elements, but the atmosphere is so strong, so hypnotizing that I found myself re-watching "Left for Dead" again and again. "Left for Dead" is a Gothic western about the moments that decide the fates of human beings. I emphasize on "human beings" because the characters here are not only likable but believable. Victoria Maurette makes me the biggest impression, adding layers of depth to her character without even uttering a word, just her facial expressions, the way she moves, the confidence with which she acts is simply brilliant. It is incredible how Pyun achieves to create such memorable scenes. There is in "Left for Dead" one of the best uses of slow-motion (and no-motion) I have ever seen. Slow-motion that captures the darkest, saddest moment, the one thing no one would expect to happen in a western. There is something haunting and sad all over the movie. It has a very intense emotional effect on the viewer. "Left for dead" is a uniquely dark voyage into the brutal reality of human nature. Watching it has been one of the most powerful experiences I've had for a long time. The darkest and most brutal sides of human nature are here present all the time and the things get almost surreal at times. The ending of the film is so harrowingly real it becomes almost unbearable in its sadness and both mental and physical violence. The theme of violence and vengeance remember me the best spaghetti westerns, specially Corbucci's. Only a master like Pyun could break all the conventions and rules of the genre, because this film just wants to be and is so much more. The imagery is stunning for such a tiny budget. So haunting --it becomes almost a surreal element and a very creepy one. The cinematography blows with some great compositions and different angles plus some extreme close ups to make each scene look as powerful as their potential. I Think that "Left for Dead" is one of Pyun's greatest achievements. I'm sure that it will remain. The cinematic magic could not be any more fantastic. This is a 'piece of honest, raw, beautiful, mighty cinema. What we have here, is nothing less than the ultimate essence of the Gothic Western: irony, cruelty, tenderness, beauty, violence, powerful characters... and chaos. Throughout the movie is laced with the anguish of haunted souls. "Left for Dead" comes across as a powerful and beautifully constructed Greek tragedy with a cynical and almost psychological edge bound to it. Pyun's stylishly first-rate direction keeps the film sombre with a brutally inspiring tone in its dramatic images and context. The wonderful use of lighting and composition keep the viewer's attention. The inventive framing also shows the quality and uniqueness of his direction. Even the flashback sequences are positioned in the story accordingly and in a fulfilling style. The story is full of symbolic and uncanny issues. What more can I say ? "Left for dead" is an unmissable, magnificently macabre opera of death.