Reviews
‘looky-loo: Part II’ Review: He’s Still Coming For You
Found footage is fortunate enough to be a nebulous subgenre; it can exist how it wants and isn’t constrained to cliches and tropes. That’s not to say many don’t follow those cliches and tropes. As someone who watches way too much found footage, it comes to a point where it’s difficult to be surprised. Too much of a good thing can still be too much. I’ve covered Unnamed Footage Festival for the past two years, which acted as a stark reminder that found footage exists beyond Tubi and there’s a stark difference between those who want to make a found footage film and those who make a found footage film because it’s all they can make. Enter: looky-loo.
While the title was beyond intriguing, I didn’t have the opportunity to see it at Unnamed Footage Festival due to time constraints. That was a mistake. Looky-loo, from writer Nolan Mihail and director Jason Zink, is a wild beast released from its chains before the script was even completed. Mihail’s story is terribly uncomfortable from tip to tail; it exists in an ethereal silence that brings the subgenre to the edge of snuff. Cold, calculated, and capriciously creepy, looky-loo is an exercise in terrifying patience that exists as one of this decade’s most divisive found footage films (well, based on user reviews).
How looky-loo Reinvents the Found Footage Killer
The film follows Looky-loo (Jason Zink), a near voiceless killer who stalks his victims and gives viewers a front row seat via his camera. The character himself is akin to early Ghostface; clumsily choking, slicing and dicing his way through a group of [seemingly random] women, getting caught, tripping, and having to think on his feet at a moment’s notice. But that’s where an uncomfortable charm exists within the footage aspect of found footage. Those of us who have seen way too much found footage are no stranger to quick, choppy, headache-inducing, overly un-stabilized images. So, there’s something to be said when filmmakers ditch that idea for more refined footage. And while the film’s stillness is undoubtedly a stylistic choice, there’s more to it than its IMDb score lets on.
The Terrifying Power of Patience and Observation
One of the most frightening elements of the killer is his extreme patience and planning. Not only are we forced to watch him uncomfortably walk up to numerous front doors to test the doorknobs, a la Richard Chase, but we also watch him slowly meander throughout these houses. Most disturbingly, though, are the many times we watch him set up his camera angles. As Looky-loo meticulously plans his angles so he can get the best shot, the viewer is stuck in this purgatory of anxiety. looky-loo is to found footage what In A Violent Nature is to slasher films.
Examining the Film’s Shifting Victim Profile
A surface viewing of looky-loo starts to reveal what seems to be a highly misogynistic film (more on this, later). For the overwhelming majority of the film, Looky-loo kills women. Now we don’t necessarily know why…yet. But as the film continues, we watch as the killer’s victim profile shifts and becomes all-encompassing. Once a man meets the end of Looky-loo’s violence, we see something interesting: evolution. And that brings us to looky-loo: Part II. (Huge shoutout to whoever’s idea it was to use Harley Poe for the end credits!)
looky-loo: Part II Expands the Killer’s Mythology
looky-loo: Part II brings us back into Looky-loo’s POV. He’s now desperately on the run from the police, and has mass distributed his self-produced snuff tape, titled looky-loo. Festivals and drive-ins screen his film for midnight audiences, and thus, a cult killer is born. The number one difference in this second film is the evolution of his victim pool. Rather than just targeting pretty women, men are now on the table for a wide array of reasons. Whether they talk negatively about him on the news, or get in the way of a kill, Looky-loo will dispatch everyone with extreme disregard at the drop of a hat.
As his motive evolves, so does his overall style and characteristics (both aesthetically and film-wise). The near-silent killer of looky-loo is now a talkative, even more brazen killer. From lying in the bed of a potential victim while a party goes on just feet away, or being caught by the partner of a victim, Looky-loo takes risks that I don’t think he would have even imagined in the first film. Moreover, one of the most badass moments I’ve seen in found footage is when Looky-loo directly addresses the audience by writing “Part II” in blood on the fridge of the film’s first victim.
Why looky-loo: Part II Works as a True Sequel
A sequel, which is typically used as a cash grab nowadays, isn’t meant to just be fan service. Sequels should, at the very least, expand on the story; why are we watching a sequel if it’s just more of the same? looky-loo: Part II not only continues to develop Looky-loo’s motives but also deeply examines his character. Keeping in line with the first film’s silent meditation of terror, looky-loo: Part II amps up the genuine frights tenfold. After sitting with these two films for 24 hours, I had an idea: I think this series is going to be a trilogy, with each film being an act in an overarching three-act structure.
Is the looky-loo Franchise Building Toward a Trilogy?
These two films are straightforward. Looky-loo stalks multiple people, and we see him dispatch them one by one. To truly examine my theory, we need to look at each film on its own merits.
looky-loo is unspoken exposition. We follow a killer through a terrifying set of kills that escalate in violence, and it ends with two inciting incidents: College Girl and the release of looky-loo. Then we get to Part II. It’s the perfect midpoint. There’s an escalation of action, character growth, and much more blood. But to avoid spoilers, let’s just say Part II ends with great rising action. All of this leads me to believe a third film is on the horizon, which will include the climax and denouement of Looky-loo (proper).
A Necessary Evolution for Modern Found Footage Horror
Found footage rarely steps out of its comfort zone, especially micro-budget found footage. Writer Nolan Mihail and director Jason Zink have built a wonderful setup for a franchise that could easily be one of found footage’s most fascinating trilogies. And given how Part II ends, I have a feeling much of the one-sidedness of the first film’s killings may be rectified. looky-loo, and Part II, is a necessary shakeup for the subgenre. It’s a lesson to the plethora of found footage filmmakers that there are still new ideas to be explored; new ways to bring terror to the masses. And it shows that even a near-dialogue free film can have ample storytelling. Maybe that’s something the people behind In A Violent Nature could take lessons from, too.
If you want to catch looky-loo: Part II, you are in luck! Part II will have its Midwest Premiere at Hysteria Fest on Thursday, July 9th. Keep your eyes peeled for Looky-loo, before he gets you, too.
A compliment first: once Evil Dead Burn’s first act ends, the film is cut loose to go wild like Sam Raimi running around with a camera strapped to his head (not a motorcycle, but thanks Bruce, it was a good piece of fake trivia while we believed it). And it’s at that turning point, when the film abandons most of the pretense of its very artificial, featherweight drama, that I started to love Evil Dead Burn. All in all, the film is a seriously entertaining endeavor in its second and third acts for how kinetic it can be.
The cold water second: Evil Dead Burn is poorly edited. But are Sébastien Vaniček and Philip Lozano’s directing and photography good enough to make up for it? Not particularly, no. But, is the story good enough to cover that up? Also no. But does it have great dialogue and humor to make up for it? Again no. But—you see where I’m going with this.
So, I’m sure you’re wondering what I actually enjoyed about this film, if it’s so flawed. And that is one simple fact: Burn is the Evil Dead franchise’s equivalent of a pro wrestling match. And Vaniček’s entry is taking you directly to a deadite royal rumble.
What Is Evil Dead Burn About?
The premise the film starts you off with would obviously never make that apparent. After her boyfriend Will is killed in a horrific car crash, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) is in shambles. Their final moments were a blow-out argument in a long string of abusive behavior on Will’s part. And to make matters worse, as she tries to reckon with that painful relationship, she is forced to attend his funeral and stay at his family’s home in the countryside. High emotions worsen tensions, as the in-laws that already ostracized her become even more aggressive.
But Will’s death was much more complicated than anyone knows: the grisly passing was set up to find the Price Family. Because Will’s brother Joseph has tampered with some very special occult items, and in the process awakened the evil dead to search for their personal effects once more. As one might expect from relentless Kandarian demons at this point, they will stop at nothing to find their possessions, even if it means tearing the family apart piece by bloody piece.
The Deadites Are Really Just Here to Put Belt to Ass
The fact of the matter is, Evil Dead Burn only really has enough structural support for its true star: the ridiculously bloody action it has on offer. This is not a ponderous horror film on the nature of trauma, despite its efforts to prod at that. It’s not a surprisingly contemplative film talking about addiction like, say, Fede Alvarez’s 2013 turn at the wheel. It is, however, the cinematic equivalent of that one RAW promo where Triple H breaks into Randy Orton’s house and just starts putting belt to ass.
The film is at its best when it’s simply letting the deadites run roughshod with their host bodies and their human prey. Tossing each other into furniture and running the fade with extreme malice, it’s borderline action horror with how much they throw down. And it looks great too, in no small part to some phenomenal practical gore and physical acting on the parts of both the main cast and their stunt performers.
The Perfect Family (of Horrific Demonic Undead)
Alyssa Sutherland’s deadite Ellie Bixler was like a slinking undead spider, crawling around and waiting to strike when her victims were at their most scared. But the Price family of Burn is more like a herd of bulls rampaging through a hospital and aiming for the patients on life support. I really can’t emphasize enough how much the stunt performers run this film, since their physicality and wild movement is perfectly in line with their fellow lead actors who get to play the deadites.
The undeniable highlight of the film is Erroll Shand. His role as the slimy grieving father Edgar is almost as good as Ellie with how absolutely nasty and demented he gets; he has the particular pleasure of working a true gross-out moment that felt like watching a Brian Yuzna film for the first time, so bravo to him if it goes to anyone. A close second for shock factor is Luciane Buchanan, who gets multiple franchise great moments as Thya. But really, the entire deadite family is fantastic once they’ve shed the weight of the film’s bag-of-rocks dialogue and get to just be sick little freaks.
(All due respect to the sick little freaks reading.)
An Examination of Abuse Deflated by Amateurish Writing and Editing
It’s doubly disappointing that Evil Dead Burn’s script is so bad in places, because the conceit of Alice’s situation is rife with potential for some really emotional scenes. Touching on the complexity of abusive relationships and how people begin to blame themselves for staying in them is inherently intriguing. It’s so perfectly in line with the way deadites psychologically torture their victims that the allegory feels wrapped like a present with a bow. And Yacoub is at the very least competent enough to work with that, she’s very engaging when she grows into full final girl form to fight back.
But the dialog is so aggressively one dimensional and unsubtle in communicating the issue at hand, it converts what could be rich drama into something cheap and flimsy. When the film tries to stoke the dramatic fires of Alice’s turmoil, it starts to feel more like a tone-deaf Lifetime movie where things are so incredibly over the top you can’t take it seriously. It’s just a tonal clash with this film’s better, more chaotic half that I can’t get behind.
If You’re Doing the Stunts, And I’m Doing The SFX, Then Who’s Editing This Movie?
This is an issue only exacerbated by the film having some seriously inappropriate timing in its editing. Most noticeable are these disorienting cuts across the entire runtime that feel like the film reel skipping. But what really gets me is the placement of these harrowing flashbacks to Alice and Will’s relationship that just don’t work. They get popped in at inopportune times to emphasize how high the stakes are emotionally for Alice. Of course, this only lowers the stakes. In isolation, the footage might have been effective (read in a doubtful tone). But in the context they’re inserted into, it evokes the feeling of someone shoving both feet on the brakes; a jarring stop in the momentum, to say the least.
Is Evil Dead Burn Worth Seeing?
So yes, Evil Dead Burn is a film that is slow to warm with its clammy writing and ice-cold editing. But once things get heated up and the film’s ensemble cast of villains are off their leash, it provides an impressive enough spectacle to keep you surprised at the wackiness and violence it achieves. And that’s saying something given the franchise’s laundry list of grotesqueries and always reliable chainsaw shenanigans. It’s hard to say if this will actually become a fan favorite with its many hiccups, but at the very least it keeps the old adage true: there’s no such thing as a boring Evil Dead film.
I’ve said time and time again that horror comedies/dark comedies aren’t my forte. Filmmakers often don’t find the right balance between horror and comedy, usually resulting in a mishmash blend that feels unfocused and lacking. Moreover, I love ambitious films; horror comedies don’t often lend themselves to ambition. (That’s not a diss by any means.) Films like Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, The Draft!, and Chainsaws Were Singing are just a few that really broke the mold for me. Thanks to the lovely programmers at Chattanooga Film Festival, I can now add Frankie, Maniac Woman to the list of exceptional horror comedies.
Frankie, Maniac Woman Delivers a Bloody Twist on Horror Comedy
Frankie Ramirez (Dina Silva) is trying to break into the industry one way or another. Little did she know that her fame would come at a bloody price. Denial after denial, being told she’s not skinny or pretty enough, when enough was enough…Frankie takes her revenge. Can Frankie slash her way to the top of the charts? Or will her path of violence become too much for her to handle?
Co-written by Dina Silva and Pierre Tsigaridis and directed by Pierre Tsigaridis, Frankie, Maniac Woman is truly a sight to behold. Pierre Tsigaridis’ third feature film takes us to a deeper level than we’ve seen before (though that might not be fair to say, as I’ve only seen his first film, Two Witches). But much of the joy from this film comes from Silva’s co-writing and performance. Oh yeah, and the gloriously violent nature of it all.
Dina Silva Creates One of Modern Slasher Horror’s Best Villains
Dina Silva’s occasionally masked portrayal of Frankie brings us one of horror’s greatest villains of all time. Rarely do we see women in horror take the main stage as such a violent force of nature. And what we also see is a devilishly smart script. Silva and Pierre Tsigaridis’ creation of Frankie brings us both a protagonist and an antagonist. Frankie wants this life where she can live as the performer she is meant to be (because Silva’s voice is gorgeous). On the other hand, Frankie’s direct actions will make sure she never has a career, you know, with the slayings and all.
The beautiful nature of Frankie’s character is the moments of realization that she has warped the trajectory of her future with each subsequent kill. She could stop, sure, but what if killing is what she was meant to do all along? Frankie does have an amazing voice, but Frankie is a fantastic serial killer. If only there were a world where she could do both.
Frankie, Maniac Woman Proves Great Slashers Need Great Stories
Now I’m unable to access the screener again, and the IMDb credits do not show the name, so I can’t fully praise the people in charge of Frankie, Maniac Woman’s SFX. A film like Frankie, Maniac Woman shows me just how wrong modern slashers are. Take Terrifier, for example. Terrifier’s story is bland, uninspired, recycled, and lazy. It’s nothing but filler around a series of fine kills. Frankie, Maniac Woman uses its kills to emphasize its incredibly well-written story. A fine film has a story that’s enough to pass the time; a great slasher has a story that uses kills as exclamation marks.
Frankie, Maniac Woman’s kills are punctuation marks that are a level above exclamation marks. Whatever that may be. Frankie is an unstoppable killing machine, until she can be stopped. She’s not this infallible entity who can take six bullets to the torso and keep lumbering on…she’s just a person. A person with feelings, stamina, and brilliant comedic timing. She’s someone you could easily see yourself being friends with (as long as you didn’t know about the killings (hell, maybe even if you knew about the killings if that’s your thing)).
Frankie, Maniac Woman Is One of the Best Festival Horror Films of the Year
Frankie, Maniac Woman is a devilishly stylized slasher that exudes camp and craft. When was the last time a film made you cry from laughter and sadness? When was the last time you watched a film so viciously riotous that you hoped things would just…work out in the end? On top of being funny, brutal, and bloody as hell, Frankie, Maniac Woman is a genuinely ‘G’reat film. It’s one of the few festival films I’ve seen that’s unquestionably Criterion-worthy.
