The Mask

Last night I was watching the 1994 movie The Mask, directed by Charles Russell, on TV. The movie tells the story of a shy bank clerk (played by Jim Carrey), who is constantly being walked over and pushed around by everyone because he is such a nice guy, until he finds an ancient wooden mask which, when he puts it on, transforms him into a green-headed, super-powered wild man, with the ability to manipulate his own reality and pretty much do anything, kind of like a live-action cartoon character. The movie was originally intended as a pretty violent horror movie, similar to the comic-book that inspired it, but in the end they decided to make the film as a comedy. The movie is very funny and features ground-breaking special effects.

Later on I saw the film Mirrors, directed by Alexandre Aja, which told the story of an alcoholic ex-cop (played by Kiefer Sutherland) who gets a job as a night security guard at a burned out derelict department store. While there he begins to see strange things in the store's mirrors. Before long the things become increasingly vivid and dangerous. The movie was an English language remake of a Korean film, although I have heard that the American film is very different to the Korean version. The movie was fairly predictable, but it did have a few nice shocks in it. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Andrei Tarkovsky film Mirror, a surreal autobiographical film which mixes in childhood memories and Russian history.

Lastly I watched Day of the Dead, a 1985 film directed by George A. Romero, and the third of his Dead series of zombie movies. By the time the film starts human society has completely broken down due to the plague of flesh-eating zombies. However, a small group of scientists and military personnel have holed up in a disused missile silo. The scientists are trying to find a way to domesticate the zombies (teaching them to shave and read Stephen King books). However the rising tensions between the military and the scientists begins to pose more danger to both groups than the advancing zombie hordes. It is a good movie and quite interesting.

Today my parents came around to check my flat and make sure that everything was still okay, which it mostly was, and I went back with them for lunch. The new issue of Fortean Times ("The Journal of Strange Phenomena") had arrived during the week with plenty of bizarre and interesting stories in it. After lunch I walked along with my Mum to a shopping centre and bought the sixth season of Red Dwarf on DVD, which should be fun. I have seen it before several times on TV and I do think that it is one of the best seasons of that show.