Chip Kaufmann’s Pick:

Wake Wood (2011)

Well now that the new Hammer’s latest opus The Quiet Ones is in the theaters and is not as good as its predecessors (see my review this issue), you should check out the least known of their previous four movies and that is Wake Wood. Everything that is missing in The Quiet Ones atmosphere, effective soundtrack, empathy with the characters, can be found here.

Wake Wood is a curious combination of The Wicker Man and The Bad Seed. A young veterinarian and his wife lose their 9 year-old daughter on her birthday when she is mauled to death by a dog. One year later they move to a small Irish village to try and rebuild their lives. A few days later the wife witnesses a pagan ritual that brings back the dead…but only for three days. Desperate to have their daughter back they take part in the ritual but withhold a vital piece of information.

Their daughter is resurrected and everything is fine at first but the older villagers are afraid of her and strange deaths begin to happen. It turns out that the withheld piece of information (she has been dead for over a year) results in her being demonic instead of angelic. She does not wish to be dead again and will stop anyone who tries to make her go back. Can her parents succeed in sending her back or will they be among her victims?

Shot on location in Donegal, Wake Wood is loaded with Irish atmosphere and, like the original Wicker Man, is a perfect combination of ordinary modern day life and ancient Celtic ritual. The strong cast is headed up by Timothy Spall as the town mayor who conducts the ritual of reviving the dead.

Although released later, Wake Wood was the first Hammer film to be made in 30 years. It won’t appeal to everyone but if you enjoy an unsettling foray into the supernatural as opposed to an outright horror film then you should give it a try. It falls into the category of once seen, not soon forgotten.

Michelle Keenan’s Pick:

Mud (2013)

Tye Sheridan who plays Gary in Joe also starred in last year’s sleeper hit Mud. Now available on DVD, I thought Mud would make for an interesting contrast with Joe. Both films are contemporary southern gothic tales. Both depict a culture of people and a way of life fairly unknown to our own. But where Joe will play to a very limited audience, Mud appeals to a very broad audience, without being any less of a film.

Mud takes place in the sleepy backwoods Arkansas tributaries of the Mississippi River, part of a culture relatively untouched by the rest of the world and a way of life not long for this world. Best friends Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) are fourteen year old boys who explore the river, looking for adolescent fun and adventure. When they discover a boat amazingly suspended in a tree on a nearby island, they get the adventure of a lifetime.

The story is a coming-of-age story of sorts and is centered around Ellis. Ellis sells fish door-to-door with his father and he’s struggling with the apparent disintegration of his parent’s marriage. He is a romantic and an idealist. Neckbone is a little rougher around the edges, never having known his parents and being precariously raised by a well meaning and loving uncle (Michael Shannon).

When they discover the boat, they decide to claim it as their own – a perfect, secret tree fort. Soon however, they discover the boat is occupied by a mysterious squatter with an odd moniker. ‘Mud’ (Matthew McConaughey) is a fugitive hiding out on the island and waiting from the law waiting for his lady love, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon).

Mud is his own ‘beast of the southern wild’ (a love child of Boo Radley and Max Cady if you will). He’s superstitious, but very capable of surviving in the woods and under the radar. He’s done bad things, but has a code of honor. He, like Neckbone has never known his parents, but like Ellis is a true romantic.

He’s an oddball to be sure, and while we don’t quite know how much of his story is true, he earns the boys’ trust. The three then set about the task of getting the boat out of the tree and patching it up so that Mud can sail into the sunset with his lady love.

Directed and written by Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), Mud takes it time unfolding but never dawdles. It feels like a literary piece adapted for the screen, but it’s not. Mud is told with patience, nuance and a salty underbelly, but at its core is a sweet soul. Youthful naiveté counters harsh realities yet never diminishes them. Rather, an almost childlike romanticism and idealism, and a general faith in the innate goodness of [most] people, gives the story a wonderful spirit without falling prey to sappiness.

There are very few missteps (if any) in this film, and even a rather conventional, crowd pleasing ending actually works here without feeling false. Bottom line – see it.