What's Spanish for "pure sleaze"? I'm beginning to think it'sEscalofrio, the original title of this nasty little Satanic shocker from Spain. With a dash of diabolic mumbo-jumbo, a severed head or two and a whole lot of swinging, sweaty sex, you have a tasty little pot of sopa de sexo y sangre,with enough left over for seconds. A bored husband and wife go for a drive in the city, meeting a strange couple along the way. Immediately, the weirdness begins, as the new creepy couple are eating blood-covered foodstuffs, bickering about botched suicide attempts and, most intriguingly, having hardcore dirty fluid-exchanges as part of a Satanic ritual. Atmospheric, disorienting and downright spooky, this would go great on a double-bill with Mondo Macabro's other exercise in hellish hedonism, Paul Naschy's Panic Beats. Louis Fowler
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Aeon Flux (PG-13)
Directed by Karyn Kusama
Paramount Home Entertainment
More and more Oscar winners, instead of trying to keep up the high caliber of work that they earned their award for, are opting for an easy paycheck and a name above the title. Halle Berry in Catwoman. Jon Voight in Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2. Nicole Kidman in The Stepford Wives. I think it's time we take Charlize Theron's Academy Award away, too. Why? Two words: Aeon Flux, a massive career misstep based on the horribly boring MTV animated series set 400 years in the future, in the last city on Earth. She's the titular Flux, a rebel trying to take down the highly stylized government through a lot of needless jumping around and Logan's Run wannabe nonsense. Don't waste your time Aeon sucks. Louis Fowler
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Control Room (NR)
Directed by Jehane Noujaim
Magnolia Pictures / *Under the Radar
Highlighting Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq war, Control Room explores public perception and mainstream media spin. Objectivity emerges as "a mirage" in the face of positive PR, lip service and semantic tip-toeing. In question are Al Jazeera's broadcast decisions and motives, America's disregard for the Geneva Convention, and the human cost of war. One voice sums up public sentiment at the time: "Eventually you [the U.S.] will have to find a solution that doesn't include bombing people into submission." As bombs explode in Baghdad, another voice quips, "Ah, democracy!" Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the film: America is called out for apparently parading fake, happy Iraqis around the fallen statue of Saddam Hussein. Matthew Schniper
![Control Room (NR) - - - - Directed by Jehane Noujaim - - Magnolia Pictures / *Under the Radar - - Highlighting Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq war, - Control Room explores public perception and - mainstream media spin. Objectivity emerges as "a - mirage" in the face of positive PR, lip service and - semantic tip-toeing. In question are Al Jazeera's - broadcast decisions and motives, America's disregard for - the Geneva Convention, and the human cost of war. One - voice sums up public sentiment at the time: "Eventually - you [the U.S.] will have to find a solution that doesn't - include bombing people into submission." As bombs - explode in Baghdad, another voice quips, "Ah, - democracy!" Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in - the film: America is called out for apparently parading - fake, happy Iraqis around the fallen statue of Saddam - Hussein. Matthew Schniper](/imager/control-room-nr/b/original/1310262/c982/ddba_cinefiles-21213.gif)
