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Postal and Seed

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:07 pm
by Sarah of the Dead
I know a lot of people were a bit dubious beforehand about the Boll movies, so... what did you think?

I missed much of Postal (although I did stick around to see the scenes with me in them...eeee!) but it definitely sounded like it went down well.

"What's the difference between a duck?" still makes me laugh, too.

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:34 pm
by AdeBrown
I laughed at that duck thing before anyone else.
It is an old friend that joke :)

I found Uwe Boll a very engaging chap, which did more to endear his films to me than all that internet business.

Postal
Okay. Part one of the Uwe Boll controversy,
I was unaware of his work and his receipt of such hatred "on the internet" (someone reminded me I had seen House of the Dead, and it seems I did not think much of it at the time. He seemed decent enough in the intro and his motivations behind Postal's storyline were very noble. What we got was a sub-Russ Meyer reworking of Team America: World Police. Any decent jokes were stretched out way to thinly. There were some slightly better than it deserved performances in the supporting cast - the two interviewers for example - but in the central cast the Kids in the Hall guy was very much by the numbers, and the hero tried not too hard to send up Michael Douglas in "Falling Down". My least favourite film of the weekend, but I'd recommend it to people who REALLY liked World Police.

All of which makes it more surprising that
Seed
was one of my top five films of the weekend. In fact, for out and out horror it was my favourite.
Straight delivery (as Boll promised), very dark and nasty.
Most of the contemporary flaws in these sort of films were circumvented by the Seventies setting (no mobile phones, no real sense that the police knew what serial killers do) and Will Sanderson as the lead was the perfect "black and white" foil to Max Seed. The scene where Seed builds up a crescendo of hammer blows on one of his victims could probably be suggested as a cut, but isn't it central to the character?

I guess the first Q&A questioner had his agenda set by the Boll-hatred, but his diatribe (rather than question) seemed to ignore that there is very little new in this genre, and that in itself does not stop a decent film being made. Boll's political leanings were a factor in using PETA footage to introduce the gore, which seems a fair decision, it also feeds into Seed's motivations. And Boll's assertion that too many horror films do not put the violence in context (which he does with that hammer scene) but instead show us a few seconds of special effects set-piece or art design. It's not meant to be good SFX, it's meant to be the end result of this sort of brutality.
And Seed's silence throughout accentuates the horror - at the core of his character is that he may have been created by a childhood trauma, but that's not over-analysed.
Remarkable, since the other Boll films I have seen are so poor, but an excellent entry into the genre.

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:10 pm
by Jekyll
Postal

Hmm designed to offend just about as many groups as possible but still had me laughing quite a few times. Not that memorable really.

Seed.

Very unsettling seeing a serial killer film done like this, very in your face matter of fact kind of way. Though the hammer scence CGI was ropy it was quite nasty seeing seed warming up getting ready to start swinging at his victim. Instead of stopping after a few swings this went on for a rather prolonged time till said victims head was pretty much pulped.

As for the man himself I was very impressed. When he was being given a hard time during the Q&A he didnt duck out or throw a strop he stood there and defended what he does and what he thinks.

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:36 pm
by jonbly
Postal was bonkers. Some of the comedy didn't really work for jonbly, though, and the Taleban felt a bit underused.

5.5/10


A: "One of its legs are both the same"

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:39 pm
by jonbly
Seed... just wasn't as 'harsh' as Uwe wanted to believe it was. The hammer scene is pretty disturbing, but wrecked by inept CGI. Still, as a whole it was a good addition to the serial killer genre.

7.5/10

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:13 pm
by DavieT
Uwe Boll - OK I havent seen many of his movies before and I'm still in the dark as to why the guy seems to have more venom directed at him than a mass murderer. Given this bad press I was weighing up whether or not to see either movie but I'm glad I did. He had the balls to stand up and take whatever the audience threw at him - respect to the guy for that.

Postal - completely bonkers - it had me thinking "errr should I really be laughing at this stuff (suicide bombers 9/11, auschwitz references etc etc etc) ... well actually yes as its actually b****y funny and I can see the point Boll's making". Probably a bit a a marmite love it or hate it thing. I must have described this movie to over 20 friends since I saw it and the vast majority of them want to to know when its released so they can go see it. Whens the cinema release and the DVD out?

Seed - I think Paul said in the into that he though many people would like one and hate the other. For me he was right - I didn't hate Seed but I didn't find it wildly original either. The hammer scene was pretty damn disgusting and did turn me stone cold - it did fit the character though - but having said that the thing that turned me even colder was the handful of people who clapped and cheered at the end of it ... yes we do all know "its only a horror movie" but it just felt so very wrong.

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:18 am
by iam_dan
although having seen a couple of his films ive never really got this hate uwe boll movies thing he comes across to me as a very likable guy hes passionate about his films and i say good luck to him hes doing what he wants and loves...as to the films postal is just nuts and managed to make me laugh which is an achievement considering the 1st flilm of the day, much a 'south park' feel to it...seed probably still being affected by gnd i did find this depressing and disturbing...both great movies in totally different ways but with as uwe said with very simialar themes

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:16 pm
by Pestilence
Postal, I thought was great. Very, very close to the "Postal 2" video game, and Zack Ward was simply fantastic as the Postal Dude. Almost had me in tears laughing at multiple points, but I think that's just because it hit my sense of humour dead on. Boll pulled out all the offensive stops on this one, from kids being shot, 9/11 references, Auschwitz, the lot, I thought it was brilliant.

Seed. Now...this was great. The pivotal hammer scene I just KNEW was done by Olaf Ittenbach while watching the film. Was going to ask Uwe about this when I noticed his name as the credits ran in the background. I'll admit to nodding off for a couple of minutes at a time during the rather slow middle section (just after Seed digs himself out of his grave), but don't seem to have missed anything. I'll definately be seeking this one out for a rewatch as soon as it's available.

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:28 pm
by maxmum
The only moment in the entire festival that made me actually feel a bit physically ill was the hammer scene in Seed.

You know there aint a chance that will ever be seen on a big screen again........!

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:40 pm
by stanley
two of the worst films ever made. PERIOD

I wanted to gorge out my eyes with a toy sheep it was that bad. He is Satan.

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:17 pm
by Reanimator
Postal was excellent fun.

Seed was one of the best of the festival. A good story and some nice death scenes. The hammer scene was nice to watch - dodgy CGI or not it didn't matter, as it had the desired impact. Agree with Jonbly's comments however in that apart from this scene, the film overall was not that Harsh. Hopefully at some point there may be a director's cut version with more footage.

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:48 pm
by lupogirl
Was looking forward to seeing these two films and see what the fuss is all about. I have only seen House of the Dead shown at FF a few years ago. Admittedly I enjoyed it in a very dumb, no brainer kind of way

Postal was highly enjoyable. Insulting just about everyone. Had me chortling! Using the dog as a silencer just had me giggling(like now). Not often you get a film where loads of kiddies get shot.

Whilst Seed was very much more of a downbeat film. Thought it was a interesting film. That much talked about hammer scene I was thinking how prolonged this scene was going to be. Was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable until I saw the CGI face. This film very much had the desired effect. As demonstrated later by Mr Jabbing Finger Man.

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:50 pm
by soulmining
Postal - was a little disappointed with this, thought the comedy was very hit and miss, although some scenes were downright hilarious. Sagged badly in the middle though and did rather have the feel of a Troma film as someone else mentioned somewhere.

Seed - very slow first half, but I can see what he was trying to achieve with this film, and think he succeeded. The hammer scene was the most unpleasant thing I saw all weekend, and the video footage of animals/humans being trapped and then slowly dying and decaying was very powerful. Of all the films, this one has probably haunted me the most.

Respect for Uwe Boll for defending his work on stage and appearing at ease in what could have been a hostile atmosphere.

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:39 pm
by rawshark
I'm obviously biased on Postal (I saw it in Cannes sat next to Herr Boll), so I'll skip commenting on that one, apart from saying I really enjoyed it.

Seed was something else. I admire what was being said, but it did seem a little too 'Friday the 13th' to be too unsettling - unlike the first film of the day. But yes, I agree, the hammer scene will be long discussed amongst horror fans...

An anti-nihilistic film, seemingly made for nihilists...

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:06 pm
by Stuart-Renton
Loved Postal. Thought it was funnier than Borat (same kind of humour).

And missed most of Seed, but the hammer scene was pretty gruesome. It was just very dark and horrible.

Will still see it again at some point, though.

It's perplexing how people mindlessly jump on the Boll hate wagon. There's just no point to it at all. Love or hate his movies, there's no need for such personal attacks.