Wineville

I remember summer of 1993 while celebrating Kräftskiva in Värmland ( Kräftskiva is a tradition meal where Swedish people eat crayfish in the month of August ) with my grandparents. This was during my 16 years birthday and my grandfather wanted to celebrate this day for his grandson properly, so he had loaded up with alcohol and different kinds of wine bottles. During this meal we all had lots of crayfish, fresh bread, even some Västerbottenpaj ( it´s like a pie made with spiced cheese, it´s really good and considered to be a Swedish classic among pies ) and my grandfather gave me all kinds of stuff to drink to the meal. One moment i was having beer, then spiced alcohol called brännvin and then wine as well. By the end of the evening i had too much to drink and especially wine towards the end that i ended up in a ditch puking like hell. Of course it was one hell of a hangover the next day but my grandfather had a good laugh about it and said:- You will be fine just have some breakfast. This was actually my first time turning 16 where i was this drunk, and i actually didn´t drink wine for some time after that night. I did continue with the beer and brännvin instead, perhaps because i liked the taste of them better. To be honest im not a huge wine lover in general and i would rather have whiskey, rum, vodka or other kinds of alcohol if i have to choose. I can enjoy a glass of white wine to a fish meal or while eating crayfish, in the end i would probably choose beer instead. I do think you can make a good hotpot with red wine, it will give the hotpot some really good flavors combined with spices and veil bouillon. Speaking of wine i do have a really good recommendation for a film that talks about wine and enjoying life in general in the 2004 comedy-drama film Sideways from director Alexander Payne ( director of the brilliant Jack Nicholson film About Schmidt, a must see ). Sideways is a very well made film about 2 good friends Miles Raymond ( Paul Giamatti ) and Jack Cole ( Thomas Haden Church ) who decides to travel together before Jack´s upcoming wedding. They will taste different wine bottles, enjoy good food and have a joyful vacation. During the trip some things happen that will change everything and completely turn their vacation plan around. Sideways is a very charming, well acted film that really digs into male friendship as well as dealing with life in general. If you enjoy light hearted films that give realistic performances then you should watch Sideways. The acting performances in this film is really good so if you want strong performances, this is the film to choose. And by the way if you pick up the DVD or blu ray listen to the commentary track, we find out some very interesting details in there regarding the making of this film. Speaking of wine i heard last year there was a grindhouse inspired horror film called Wineville that was getting some positive reviews. My plan was to watch this film during Christmas weekend but plans changed so i decided to finally sit down and give this film a chance. Since im a big fan of grindhouse horror in general, is this a horror film that you need to experience or is Wineville unfortunately not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Tess Lott ( Brande Roderick ) travels back to her family home with her only son Walter Lott ( Keaton Roderick Cadrez ) after her father passed away to figure out what to do about the farm and the vinery that the family have worked on for many years. Tess have a very bad past with her abusive father and do not like coming back to home, but decides to do the best out of the situation. While staying there she finds out people have gone missing from this area. What Tess doesn´t know is that her family members carry even darker secrets than she ever would have imagined.

I have always appreciated independent horror films that tries to bring back the feeling of old school grindhouse 70´s horror and that´s exactly what Wineville manage to do. If you have seen grindhouse cinema classics and appreciate practical make up effects ( there is actually some really gory scenes in this film ) then i promise this is a film that will please you. In a sense you can say that Wineville is a film that tries to bring back a time period where you had great characters, and it´s not just about the brutal killings of people that matters. This is one detail i feel is important since sometimes certain horror films forget about making good characters, that you will remember for different reasons. Im actually suprised that for a low budget horror film like this i can´t say any of the actors does a terrible performance, they perform better than i expected. So let´s dive into the characters a bit and talk about some of them. You have of course main actress Brande Roderick ( who not only look fantastic but is of course a Baywatch legend ) as the character Tess Lott. What i especially like about Tess as a character is that shes a very natural mature mother, it feels like you would enjoy spending time with her just being a simple woman and shes quite charming as well. Child actor Keaton Roderick Cadrez as the character Walter proved to me that this young man have acting skills that could take him far, and i really appreciate the work he put into this role. General Hospital actress Carolyn Hennesy as the crazy character Aunt Margaret feels like the redneck cousin of Annie Wilkes ( fantastic performace by Kathy Bates ) in the Stephen King film adaptation of Misery and i feel that Carolyn really capture that dangerous personality that this film needed to become more effective, from a psychological level. This is the first time i have seen actor Casey King and i have to say, he did a really powerful impact with his character Joe. The horror elements in Wineville are simple and the plot is easily constructed but that actually helps the film work more effectively, with great characters and the brutal murders the combination simply feel more natural. The locations of this film at an old vineyard matches well with the plot. There are a few smaller details that could have been improved but overall im surprised of how much i appreciate Wineville for trying to bring back 70´s grindhosuse cinema and manage to do this well. Director Brande Roderick have not only made a solid horror film but the film looks great as well. If you want raw brutal old school horror then Wineville hits all the right spots, definetely worth picking up on physical media.

Rating: DDD