Z/Web

Author: Clive Barker

Director: Clive Barker

I like Clive Barker the writer and artist, but I hadn’t seen his movie. It’s actually pretty good, though in a gory fashion. It deals with a mysterious puzzle box that takes people into heaven/hell where monsters torture them for eternity. The people who open the box end up with more horror than they wanted. Kinda bizarre and flimsy concept, but the film is better than that: it primarily deals with a brother who was destroyed by the box coming back to life when given blood — he convinces his brother’s wife (with whom he had an affair) to kill people for him so he has more blood and can heal. Intriguing concept, and I liked the way the normal woman becomes a monster to help her former lover. The graphics were pretty good, too: the guy’s a walking skeleton but each dead man adds flesh. Quite horrible, but interestingly, I found the human woman more frightening.

TV Guide said there was no soccer game today, but when I tuned in mid-way, there was. Thus I missed the first three goals: Chiesa’s and Gomes’ for Fiorentina and Conte’s for Juventus. I was rather bummed, thinking that I’d missed most of the action. But in the second half, Juventus immediately tied the score on a penalty kick. That started him off on a tear, breaking his streak of poor scoring this season. He caught a fantastic volley at the top of the box to put Juventus ahead (remember, in the first 20 minutes they were down by two!). But not long after that Chiesa scored a terrific free kick to equalize the score again. With 30 minutes left I figured there’d be another goal, but that was it. Terrific game, well-deserved result. Final: 3-3.

Author: Clive Barker (story)

This picks up right where the other left off, with the daughter put into an asylum because they think she’s crazy with her story of the demons inside a box. It’s pretty much more of the same after that, with the evil woman who died in the first movie coming back to life the way the man did in the first one (she needs fresh blood to revive). The daughter is looking for the soul of her father, who’s in torment, but it turns out it was just a trick to get her back into the box. Okay. At least these are a different kind of horror film.

This was a replay of September’s terrific Man. U./Chelsea clash, with goals galore. The 3-3 draw was great entertainment and well worth watching again.