The Tatooist
Oct. 16th, 2008 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feliciakwOr . . . Returning to My Fannish Roots.
Last night Geo and I watched a New Zealand horror movie called The Tatooist. The reason I Netflixed it is because one of the minor characters is played by one of my favorite actors, Michael Hurst (fka Iolaus). It's been a little difficult for me to catch his work since H:TLJ ended, as Michael is a Kiwi, he has no intention of transferring his career to the States, and he's an active theatrical actor/director/producer (live theater meaning I'd have to go to NZ to see his work, which I would totally do in a heartbeat if I had the funds because, dude, New Zealand).
Anyway . . .
So, Michael. No matter what the role, he never disappoints. One of the reasons I love him so as an actor is he throws himself full tilt into any role he takes on. This man knows no fear as an actor, I don't think. (His alter ego, the Widow Twanky, is going to be at an upcoming CreationCon. Oh, would I love to see that.) In this movie, he plays Crash, the Cockney-accented mentor/teacher of the leading character, American tattoo artist Jake Sawyer. He's only in one or two scenes, but he plays them to the hilt.
Anyway, back to the movie.
So, an American tattoo artist, Jake Sawyer, becomes interested in the art of Samoan tattooing and steals a tattoo instrument from a family he meets at an expo. He travels to Auckland, NZ, where he gets a job with his old teacher while he finds the family of tattooists he saw at the expo, and particularly the female cousin of the family.
When Jake accidentally cuts himself on the stolen tattoo tool, things start getting weird. The people he tattoos at the parlor (with the usual electric needle), their tattoos start growing out of control until they eventually bleed copious amounts of ink and blood and die. In addition, he's seeing something out of the corner of his eye, reflected in mirrors and windows--the shape of a person, bald, covered in black tats--and he's hearing the tap-tap-tap of the hammer used in the Samoan tattooing process.
I didn't find the movie to be particularly scary so much as I found it really rather gross. And overall, even the grossness was more ink-related (because bleeding ink is just disturbing) than blood-related. Though there were a couple of scenes that really made me squirm in regards to removing tattoos with a knife. *squirm*
I also found one of the supporting characters to be really familiar-looking. It probably would have driven me nuts (though I knew I had to have seen him on H:TLJ, given the whole NZ thing), but Geo ended up telling me yes, I'd seen him before as . . . Oh, yeah! The Blue Priest in one of the Herc movies.
I think the part I found the most interesting was the Samoan tattooing itself. The designs are passed from father to son, and once a tattoo is started, it must be finished (in stages and installments) or it brings shame on the family (per the movie, anyway). There's even a celebration when a man completes his pea'a. And the practice itself, using a comb of sorts, tapping the ink-dipped tines into the skin with a mallet, is very painful. There were a couple interesting short documentaries on the DVD.
All in all, not really a scary movie (particularly after The Orphanage), but interesting nonetheless.
Last night Geo and I watched a New Zealand horror movie called The Tatooist. The reason I Netflixed it is because one of the minor characters is played by one of my favorite actors, Michael Hurst (fka Iolaus). It's been a little difficult for me to catch his work since H:TLJ ended, as Michael is a Kiwi, he has no intention of transferring his career to the States, and he's an active theatrical actor/director/producer (live theater meaning I'd have to go to NZ to see his work, which I would totally do in a heartbeat if I had the funds because, dude, New Zealand).
Anyway . . .
So, Michael. No matter what the role, he never disappoints. One of the reasons I love him so as an actor is he throws himself full tilt into any role he takes on. This man knows no fear as an actor, I don't think. (His alter ego, the Widow Twanky, is going to be at an upcoming CreationCon. Oh, would I love to see that.) In this movie, he plays Crash, the Cockney-accented mentor/teacher of the leading character, American tattoo artist Jake Sawyer. He's only in one or two scenes, but he plays them to the hilt.
Anyway, back to the movie.
So, an American tattoo artist, Jake Sawyer, becomes interested in the art of Samoan tattooing and steals a tattoo instrument from a family he meets at an expo. He travels to Auckland, NZ, where he gets a job with his old teacher while he finds the family of tattooists he saw at the expo, and particularly the female cousin of the family.
When Jake accidentally cuts himself on the stolen tattoo tool, things start getting weird. The people he tattoos at the parlor (with the usual electric needle), their tattoos start growing out of control until they eventually bleed copious amounts of ink and blood and die. In addition, he's seeing something out of the corner of his eye, reflected in mirrors and windows--the shape of a person, bald, covered in black tats--and he's hearing the tap-tap-tap of the hammer used in the Samoan tattooing process.
I didn't find the movie to be particularly scary so much as I found it really rather gross. And overall, even the grossness was more ink-related (because bleeding ink is just disturbing) than blood-related. Though there were a couple of scenes that really made me squirm in regards to removing tattoos with a knife. *squirm*
I also found one of the supporting characters to be really familiar-looking. It probably would have driven me nuts (though I knew I had to have seen him on H:TLJ, given the whole NZ thing), but Geo ended up telling me yes, I'd seen him before as . . . Oh, yeah! The Blue Priest in one of the Herc movies.
I think the part I found the most interesting was the Samoan tattooing itself. The designs are passed from father to son, and once a tattoo is started, it must be finished (in stages and installments) or it brings shame on the family (per the movie, anyway). There's even a celebration when a man completes his pea'a. And the practice itself, using a comb of sorts, tapping the ink-dipped tines into the skin with a mallet, is very painful. There were a couple interesting short documentaries on the DVD.
All in all, not really a scary movie (particularly after The Orphanage), but interesting nonetheless.
