STACK Jul #129

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036 JULY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
COMING SOON Hitting the JB shelves in August
Insurgent
The Divergent Series
pumps up the action an
expands its mythology
in this thrilling second
installment. Move over
Katniss Everdeen. (Aug
Get Hard
Will Ferrell boldly go
where Rob Schneide
went in Bad Stan – t
prison via a crash
course in survival
techniques. (July 29)
The Woman
in Black 2
No Daniel Radcliffe
this time, but the titul
ghost is certain to rai
the hackles of viewer
once again. (Aug 12)
Fast &
Furious 7
You'll believe a car can
fly, and Dwayne Johnso
is indestructible, in the
craziest F&F film to
date! (Aug 27)
IT FOLLOWS
DISC of the month:
This handsome Belgian
actor with a body built for
action films and the face of
a romantic leading man can
currently be seen in cinemas
starring opposite Carey
Mulligan in a new adaptation
of the Thomas Hardy classic
Far from the Madding Crowd.
But don't expect to see him
in the next Fast & Furious film.
Schoenaerts made his film debut aged 15
alongside his actor father, Julien, in the Oscar-
nominated Daens (1992) and worked in short
films and TV prior to landing a supporting role in
Paul Verhoeven's WWII drama Black Book (2006).
His intense performance in Belgian film Bullhead
(2011), playing a tormented cattle farmer involved
in steroid trafficking for the mafia, brought him to
the attention of critics and arthouse audiences as
a European star to watch. He followed this up with
an equally terrific turn in Rust and Bone (2012), as
a drifter and single dad who becomes romantically
involved with Marion Cotillard's double-amputee.
Having seriously impressed Cotillard, she
recommended him to French director Guillaume
Canet for a bad guy part in the crime thriller Blood
Ties (2013), which he followed with a similar role
in The Drop (2014) – in the company of Tom Hardy,
James Gandolfini and his Bullhead director, Michaël
R. Roskam.
"I'm attracted to people with flaws," Schoenaerts
says. "I like to play underdogs and anti-heroes. I
don't like to play classical heroes."
He also appears in the 2014 ensemble thriller
The Loft (out on DVD July 1), reprising the same
character he played in the Belgian version of the
film in 2008, and has just signed on to play explorer
William Clark in the upcoming HBO mini-series
Lewis and Clark (2016).
Schoenaerts' brooding good looks were also
the face of Louis Vuitton's 2014 Spring/Summer
Menswear campaign, and it's only a matter of
time before we see him in a major Hollywood
production; just don't call him a heartthrob. "I hate
it when people try to make you look like a pretty
boy, I really don't like that," he says. "I always try to
make myself look like shit when I do a role."
Bullhead (2011)
Rust and Bone (2012)
Blood Ties (2013)
The Drop (2014)
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
MATTHIAS
Schoenaerts
visit EXTRAS DVD&BD
Have-sex-and-die was a staple of '80s
teen slasher films, and this theme is
given a frightening new twist in writer
director David Robert Mitchell's terrifi
indie horror movie. There's a wealth
of subtext here, particularly for fans of Cronenberg's
early work, but It Follows more closely resembles
an arthouse version of the original A Nightmare on
Elm Street, sans gore and flashy visual effects. It
also evokes John Carpenter's classic Halloween;
autumnal suburban streets are captured with wide
angles and long tracking shots, and evil can be
lurking anywhere within the widescreen frame. And
the pumping synth score is pure '80s/Carpenter.
The emphasis here is on mood and atmosphere;
the ordinary and everyday oozes malevolence – a
device that fans of Ramsey Campbell's horror fiction
will immediately recognise. Moreover, a weirdly
anachronistic setting – where black and white TVs
and e-readers co-exist – in a Detroit landscape of
derelict buildings and urban decay adds further to the
inherently creepy vibe.
What's also impressive, and refreshing, is that
the protagonists are real teenagers with real hopes
and fears about growing up, instead of the gorgeous-
looking, vacuous social media addicts who populate
a majority of today's horror films.
It's a crime that movies like It Follows struggle to
make it onto cinema screens, and if they do, they're
granted a very limited release, whereas Paranormal
Activity: Part Whatever can dominate the multiplexes
for an extended run. Thank goodness for DVD, where
quality films like this can reach the wide audience
they deserve. • See review on page 52