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ll! )lllélel DECOYS
(15) 96min rflolrrrrrllra lrr Star DVD Vl lfi rental retarlr .0.
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Shot rn Canada by New York horror geek and frlrrrrrraker Matthew llastrngs (son of the farrrous US actor Don llastrngsr Decors rs the A/rrer'rri.'rrr Pre of the horror genre. l‘hrs trme out rt's a hunch of arctrc fr'eshrrren lured try a gaggle of saucy alrerr cheerleader types. who prey on the hoys’ overzealous sexual appetrtes hefore free/rng them to death wrth therr glutrnous. hrdderr tentacles. You know the score ~ gr< ss- out horror, leshran trtrllatron, one dumh cop and the- supposet‘lly- plarnthough—actually7 ver\ .‘rttractrve—grrl- hudd\ are all wheeled out Wltll a gleeful crassrress that alrrrost suggests a knowrrrg sense of krtsch from the rrrouerrrakers. It‘s enough to make Garth Marenghr revolve smugh rn hrs leatherette upholstered gra\e. rtlools Stoner
ROMANTIC COMEDY 50 FIRST DATES (12A) 99min
(Columhra Trrstar DVD rentall .0
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no.1 folks W tfrere rs rrothrrrr} to see here for the rest of you Harrj, Hotn rSarrdlerr rs a serral .‘xorrranrser who rn a (horror/hog Dar' tr.'/rst of fate falls rn love ‘.'/rth l ucy ll)."(:‘.‘.’ Barryrrrorer. a ‘.'.rorrrarr who wakes ur, ever rrror'nrng WIlll no rrrernorr, of the pre‘xrous 94 hours. Whrle not reachrng the cornrr: herghts of Happy (ir/rrror/r, thrs doesn't srrrk as low as Mr Deeds. Wrtlr an a‘\./orrlarr<:e of some of the more ohvrous prtfalls the plotlrne throws up. rt's an easy and drvertrng frlm. \.'./hrch. lrke Lucy. you are rrnlrkely to recall much of the next day. (Gordon Hdrettl
Sl XUAl CDMlDY KRAMPACK
(15) 90min
(PPR DVD VHS r'etarl) O...
Wrnner of the Prrx de Jeunesse at the 2000 Cannes Frlm Festrval. Spanrsh corrrrng of age tale Krampack lrt means 'thr'eesome'r adds an extra drmensron to teenage angst hy crossrng almost every possrhle sexual harrrer. The fact that rt does so wrth humour and rntellrgence rs no mean feat.
Teenage house-srttm Danr rFernando Rarrrallor rs attracted to hrs hest frrend Nrco rJordr Vrlchesl but NlCO rs more rnterested rn chasrrrg after gorgeous local grrl Elena rMarreta Or'o./'col. whose frrend Berta rEsthen Nuhrolar rs makrng eyes at an
PE Hrf ii; [.VFlAf.‘./« SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY (15) 93min
rHr<;h Flrers DVD VHS rental retarlr 0..
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After frlrns lrke Dead Poets Socretv and [Ind/rig / o/r‘ester. It's hard to see how tales of rnsprratrorral acaderrrrcs can he retold and strll seerrr fresh. Unfortunately. drrector Arslrng Walsh's Song for a Baggy Boy doesn't have the answers but rt does do the next best thrng. tellrng an affectrng story well and cur'tarlrng rts forays rnto over» sentrrrrentalrty. Wrestlrng demons from hrs trrrre rn the Spanrsh Crvrl War, and the loss of hrs wrfe, teacher William Franklrn (Ardan Ournn) gets a rob at lrrsh Catholrc boys' reformatOry school St Jude's. Cue a war of erls wrth the rntensely vrolent Brother John (larn Glen) and creepy pederast Brother Mac (Marc Warren) — of course. these SUDJOCIS have l)(}(?ll l()ll(2lt(}(l (>rr before. but Qurnn's noble performance and Walsh's measured drrectron make tlrrs an ahsorhrng tale nonetheless. lvlrnrrrral extras. rDavrd Pollockr
BLACK (TOME—DY TATIE
DANIELLE
(15) 112mm
rC'est La Vre DVD retarlr O.
Thrs 1990 French frlm rs abOuI as black black comedres get and whrle rt does ha\e some deerrOusly wrcked
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BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM (18) 133mm
*lartan DVD retail rur‘tai‘ CO.
' 51-3129;
4,". 7' o a ‘J..-
Battle Royale II: Requiem opens with the destruction of the Japanese capital. But given the crumbling office blocks look very much like the World Trade Centre, it's clear from the outset that the sequel deals with global issues where the original, now a modern cult classic, dealt with domestics. And although Requiem addresses terrorism where its predecessor addressed juvenile delinquency, the two films share the same set-up: classes of tearaway school kids are kidnapped by the military, operating under orders from the government, taken to a deserted island and forced to fight one another to the death. In BR I, the government employed the exercise in a desperate attempt to stamp out delinquency (the rise of which in real world Japan, the government was unable to deal with, which is the satirical point of the film); in BR II the government relaunches the ultra-violent programme in order to destroy the terrorist cell suspected of rocking the capital to its foundations. This time the new school kid recruits are invading the remote island (Nagasaki, intentionally and ironically enough) where the teenage terrorists the Wild Seven are holed up.
But there’s a problem. BR I was darkly satirical, infused with a malicious sense of fun and knowingly baited the Japanese government which responded by taking the unprecedented step of attempting to have the film banned (they failed, teenage filmgoers lapped it up and it became the country’s biggest home-grown hit). BR II, meanwhile, takes itself far too seriously, and although terrorism, arguably, is no laughing matter, the film suffers a great deal from being worthy. The powerful satirical barb of the first film is, in the sequel, nowhere in evidence.
And that’s a great shame, because there’s a very poignant story behind the making of BR II. Veteran filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku, who directed the original, succumbed to a long fight with cancer and died while making the sequel. His son, Kenta, producer on both films, completed his father’s work. How’s that for pathos? Still, BR II was an even bigger hit in cinemas in Japan than BR I. That backstory would have made for interesting ‘extras' material on the DVD. Disappointingly, there are no extras to speak of. (Miles Fielder)
3—23 Sec 230-1 THE LIST 109