Boy Scout Be Damned: Cub (2014)

Cub (Welp) (Belgium, 2014)
Rating: ***1/2
Starring: Stef Aerts, Evelien Bosmans, Titus De Voogdt

It was a bright and sunny morning when 12-year old Sam spiraled straight down to hell; as a "Pathfinder" scout, he'll be joining the rest of the young troops on a camping trip to the woods, under the watchful eye of two Scout masters and a gal volunteering as the camp's cook. But being orphaned, Sam's a tad down and finds it difficult to get along with others, a reason enough for the other children and one notorious scout master to constantly bully him.

As night falls, the scouts were told of an old legend about a werewolf named Kai, who is believed to make mischief in very same the woods they are staying at. Sam never bought this story until he felt eyes watching him behind the woods and finds a large nest-like tree house not far from camp. He soon encounters a masked feral boy who have been stealing food from their camp, which Sam comes to believe as Kai. When he tries to convince the rest of who he just found, he is further ridiculed for believing the silly legend.

Things go for the bloody when Sam angers the bullying scout master after he caught the man spooning the cook, leading to the jerk attacking him with his pet pitbull. Kai saw this and offers Sam a chance to get even by clubbing the dog to death before leaving the scout to take all the blame. As Sam boils further in hot water, it turns out the feral boy isn't the only one to keep an eye out for in those deep woods; a killer with a penchant for deadly traps have the entire forest littered with them and this maniac have set their blades on thinning down the group one victim at a time.

Cub (2014) is a slasher movie that pushed some boundaries and succeeds in a level; with the entire premise focusing on a lonesome scout and how he descends unto a night of survival and madness, it is pretty gritty as we get violence against anything that breathes, handled with a good build-up.

The best way to describe Cub (2014) is that it's a pot-boiler; for a movie that runs an hour and 20 minutes, credits included, it took about a near hour before the killings begin. Until then, we took our time following Sam's ordeal under the hands of most of the gang, with two particular boys and the one aforementioned scout master doing most of the damage while the two other adults simply try to put everything under control, nevertheless failing to set anything straight or simply choosing to remain quiet. These bullying incidents hold nothing back, thus the sense of hopelessness and isolation can be quite overwhelming, thus helping set up what could be "justified" violence as Kai and an unnamed maniac decided to track down their prey.

By then, Sam's unusual relationship with Kai is sort of explored, as the two mirrors an odd reflection of each other as outcasts sporting a mysterious and violent past. But the boys' strange pasts aren't the only one thing obscured here; without revealing much, you can say that the direction of the movie has us wallowing on an uncertain tone as anybody can die off once the plot finally got its momentum and the production made an exceptional expense in keeping the deadlies as graphic as they are shocking.

A dog was clubbed for nearly 3 minutes, children were beaten against trees, thespians are slaughtered with knives and booby traps, the slasher parts resemble the same twisted machinations from the home invasion-slasher hybrid, The Collector (2009), with a bit of feral boy madness from that of Lord of The Flies or that obscured cheesefest Memorial Valley Massacre (1989). (Wouldn't blame you if you hadn't heard of that one) The one flaw I see here was the last act wherein everything halts to give the characters a moment to choose sides and survive, only to take an odd turn with an ending that may divide an audience but cathartic nonetheless.

In the end, Cub (2014) proves its worth as a serious slasher horror that deserves its praise and its audience; there's the depth of innocence being lost as temptations for vengeance and power took hold, mixed incredibly well with stock cliches of an 80s slasher movie. It's definitely a gem well-needed to be tracked down and enjoyed by fans alike.

Bodycount:
1 male killed offcamera
1 male pinned to a tree by a shot arrow, stung to death by bees
1 dog bludgeoned with dead branches, throat bitten
5 bodies seen frozen in a makeshift freezer
1 male gets a pocket knife to the eye
1 boy ran down with a van
6 boys ran over with a van
1 male crushed by falling logs
1 boy knifed to death
1 female impaled through spikes, knifed to death
Total: 19

Life of a serial killing robber: Man Bites Dog (1992)

Man Bites Dog (C'est Arrive Pres De Chez Vous) (Belgium, 1992)
Rating:***1/2
Starring: Benoît Poelvoorde, Jacqueline Poelvoorde-Pappaert and Nelly Pappaert

I've got a thing for documentaries; whether it's about nature or alien visitations, the weirder, the better. Man Bites Dog came to me out of sheer curiosity, out of childhood readings of this title from the internet, as I start to recall my fascination to this title and I see a number of things I would enjoy:  a hefty number of killings (by a blunderbuss! I've got to get myself one of those!), some child murders, an old woman scared to a heart attack and a rape scene. Surely, it was a go-signal for a search.

Nothing like a good strangulation to get the circulation going~!

In this Black and White Mockumentary, we follow Ben, a sly and well-educated man who's into poetry, architecture, classical music and serial killing. His world view and murders are being recorded by a film crew of four, who at first, heartless viewers of Ben's "craft", but as the carnage dwells deeper, they began joining in the "fun" themselves.

If only he sticked to killing and robbing...

While not altogether a slasher film, it has a lot of good stuff to keep a fan interested; we get plenty of home invasion scenes in the vein of "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)", where Ben managed to kill an entire family (including a very young boy!) without using his trusted gun. Comparing this to the afore-mentioned 1986 film's scene, it has more action, succeeding to be just as shocking and brutal (the boy was smothered to death with his pillow. On camera). I love myself a good home invasion and this scene is just as good as any other.

When watching the carnage is no longer enough

Among some of Ben's other memorable works includes an elderly lady who lives alone in an apartment, letting Ben and the crew in thinking they're documenting "loneliness", only to be driven to a heart attack when our killer screamed at her, left her to fade away and proceeds to rob her. Call me heartless, but I find that kinda clever.  As the story continues and Ben's killings becomes more motiveless, dark and very unnerving to the point that we begin to see his inner flaws as a human.

After a failed attempt to kill a postman, a series of events had led to his capture, and even after his escape, he began receiving "death threats" from an avenger who had began killing off his own loved ones. Ben is now reduced to a lowly criminal who is now running from the law and an unseen assailant after them, and this is what makes Man Bites Dog an interesting movie.

It's always the quiet ones.

The movie dwells in realism and comic of darkly proportions. Soundtrack is absent, cameras are held amateurish, the kills are brutal even if they're mostly spree shootings with the thriving victims trying to get away from them makes the film's notorious. The focus of the movie's a twisted moral later influenced films like "Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)" or "How to be a Serial Killer" (a movie with similar theme, but a lot better), trying to mold a character that makes his infamous deeds more engaging and digestable, all before reminding us that these killer are in fact, no matter how charming they can be, monsters. Giving example to this would be the dreaded break-in/rape scene where Ben and the crew men, drunk, invaded a home of a couple and, after gang raping the wife, murders them both off camera. The result is gruesome: the aftermath had entrails splattered all across the room while the culprits slept peacefully on them. At that point, Man Bites Dog blurred the line of acceptable grue humor and total uncontrolled monstrosity.

Downfall of a killer

Man Bites Dog is a horror film with a comic world view of a man who's good and boastful of his craft, going haywire as his skills becomes his very flaw. But at the same time, it heeds as a satire to the relationship between viewers and the violence they see in media, on how much we can remain desensitized. It's complicated, but you can see the  hints (or not. I'm a Journalism major, not a psychologist), nevertheless it's still a scary ride to an uncontrolled mayhem; mainstream for some, gem to others.

Bodycount:
1 female garrotted
1 male bludgeoned to death
1 male shot on the chest
1 male shot dead
1 male shot on the back
1 male shot dead
1 female bound and shot on the head
1 male killed
1 elderly female killed
1 male shot on the eye
1 male shot
1 victim shot
1 female killed
1 male shot in the gut
1 male slashed with razor and then shot
1 victim bagged on the head
1 body seen
1 male shot
1 elderly female driven to a heart attack
1 elderly male shot
1 male shot
1 male beaten to death with gun
1 female kicked and hyperventilated to death
1 male neck broken
1 boy smothered with pillow while hyperventilating
1 male shot to death
1 male shot to death
1 male shot on the head
1 male shot on the gut
1 male shot on the gut
1 male shot to death by the back
1 elderly female strangled with belt
1 male killed
1 victim shot
1 female gutted offscreen, body later seen
1 male throat slashed offscreen, body later seen
1 male shot on the head by accident (?)
1 female found anal probed with a flute
1 female mentioned anally probed with a broom stick
1 male shot on the head
1 male shot
1 male shot on the chest
1 male shot on the back
Bodycount: 43