Thursday The 12th

Bedlam - Some Thoughts

2011-02-18T23:49:00.002Z

For our British readers, I thought I'd very quickly offer my thoughts on Bedlam (the new so-called 'psychological horror' featuring Will Young. Here are my observations (after watching two episodes):

It features some extremely poor cliches of the genre
Will Young is trying hard to pass himself off as a straight guy, which appears slightly implausible despite going for the 'hottie' in the first episode
Will Young is probably the best actor in the show
Theo James is an ok actor but the amount of times he appears without clothing is starting to really grate
There's a large amount of scenes that appear cringeworthy and 'cheap'
Hugo Speer has an extremely bizzare part in the programme and I can't work out what he's meant to be doing in it, apart from being the sinister 'father figure' of Kate

I don't know why or how British supernatural drama keeps going so wrong. Such programmes as the seminal Ghostwatch, the well written Sea of Souls and the deeply disturbing Chillers all hit the nail dead on. Yet we've recently had a spate of less than average programming.

If you're interested, Wikipedia has quite a good page of collected UK supernatural drama.

Shock Labyrinth 3D

2011-02-18T23:32:00.003Z

Outline
It's another scary Japanese movie with a female ghost/monster stalking a group of attractive teens/young adults. It is however still worth watching because of the slightly mind bending storyline and the fact that it's filmed in 3D.

Yet again, Takashi Shimizu is making scary movies, and this is no exception. Throughout the atmosphere continues to ratchet up notch by notch, until you realise that it is telling a story of some sort of bizzare time travel. Then this concept gets totally turned on the head until you're not quite sure of exactly what you've seen or who is meant to be mad (or not). Trust me, it's one to see.

As is commonplace in non-westernised horror, the Aristotelean narrative form is frequently let by the wayside in order to pursue more complex concepts or just plain scary visual images. Shock Labyrinth 3D lives up to this by putting a bunch of protagonists in a real-life location - Fuji-q High Land, an amusement park near Mt. Fuji. This amusement park really does have a haunted house that you can walk through and after this film I'd think twice about doing so! The protagonists actually explore this location twice. Their first foray being as children and they later return as young adults after seeing an unexpected face from the past (yes the girl from the box art).

A film in 3D
Of course I couldn't finish the review without talking about the 3D element. At times it works extremely well, with a true depth of field for some shots. However, it does no favours for the film when the subtitles come on. These can appear blurred and may irritate the eyes when watching. For the record, I watched both the 3D and 2D versions of the film and personally found the 3D version the superior. However, my other half felt that the opposite was the case, with the 2D DVD providing richer colours and far greater clarity.

Should I watch it?
If you're a fan of Asian horror films, you should probably watch Shock Labyrinth 3D. There's nothing wrong with it per se, but it doesn't light up the genre as The Grudge did. 3D brings another element to the film and makes it slightly more interesting and there are far worse ways to spend an evening (probably with an average Hollywood horror).

Final score
7/10

Let The Right One In

2011-02-02T20:59:00.000Z

This is only a short commentary regarding the film and the book - but I feel an important one.

I'm talking here about the original movie, not the Hollywood remake named Let Me In.

I can confirm that in some respects, Let The Right One In is very close to the original material, but unfortunately it falls short in many ways. Not least by missing out some of the far more interesting subtexts that take place in the novel. It even cuts out exactly what happens to Eli's older protector following a fall from the hospital window. This element of the storyline serves as one of the most sinister chapters of any book I have ever read. It may not have given me night terrors but the concept left me with images in my mind that took a long while to leave.

Let The Right One In is ultimately served far better as a novel as it is nuanced, subtle, terrifying and detailed. The film misses out so much that frequently you're asking 'eh?' or 'what?' with relationships in the film, which is what the book is about.

Back In Business...

2011-02-02T20:58:00.002Z

Sorry for the delay guys, but we're going to be back in business, albeit sporadically. Naturally, this means more horror news, views and reviews.

Jennifer's Body - Review

2010-02-26T23:41:00.008Z

So, yeah, I recently picked this up on DVD after all the hype and publicity engaged me, and much championong from me on this very site. I know, so good with the timing right? Sadly that is mostly how I get to watch my horror, getting to the pictures is increasingly difficult along with many other things but I'm still picking up the DVD's as you'll hopefully see as I get to watch those, or hope to. If for some reason you are even later than me at watching this film do not read on if you do not want to be spoiled and have plot details revealed.

My general thoughts are that the film presents a highly stylised world. Initially this will immediately put a lot of people off and is akin to the likes of Aaron Sorkin or Joss Whedon on tv or the films of Tim Burton or any "hyper-reality" writers or directors. I'd heard that said about writer Diablo Cody's flair for language and it's true, it's quite good if overly phony sounding at times and always very styled if you know what I mean. I hadn't seen Juno so this was my first experience of that, when it worked it was great, sometimes naturalistic which weirdly jarred itself but on a couple of occasions horribly and distractingly bad.

Taking the movie chronologically we are thrown straight into the narrative and this world, the lives of these people and the way they are. It's quite uncomfortable and takes some adjusting to the tone which never seems to settle as a result at first. As we open we go straight from high school seen-it-a-thousand-times best friends, relationships etc "Dawson's Creek" stuff to a horrific scene of the local bar burning down. This is actually presented, not as drama or too realistic, but in an o.t.t stylised horror film sort of way, imagine being thrown from One Tree Hill or something into a scene directed by Sam Raimi. From there the movie's main plot kicks in. One thing here has now become obvious, Megan Fox looks good, and that's it. The person carrying the movie and the lead, despite the promotional material, is Amanda Seyfried, though not the face of the movie. She really does hold it too doing an excellent job at getting her character and drawing you into the movie's world through her, the only fleshed out person you can give a damn about. In fairness Fox gets two scenes in movie's middle and end which prove she probably can act if she tries but here the brief is arguably to act the vacuous botched bitch with extra demonic relish and never fail to give a sexy performance above all else.

As the murders progress the horror is obviously fairly tame, the film is only a 15 certificate, and might seem cliche to some as the nature of Jennifer's curse is revealed. I dug it, partly because it seems brave to do what might be construed as cheesy and I haven't seen much of it, plus it came across quite cool in the world established and seemed to fit. As Jennifer first returns from her, initially unseen, ordeal there is one of the scariest and creepiest scenes I have seen in a while as a bloodied Fox simply smiles through bared teeth, vacant stare in her eyes just facing down her friend through darkness. Then screams that sound truly otherworldy and some horror scenes which might surprise you with their effectiveness and how good they are. A true shudder moment.

The high school stuff is less successful, but as I said Seyfried's Needy keeps you on track, the mid-section of the film ticks along though remains unremarkable bar odd directorial or writing quirks that creep in (Why has J.K Simmons' teacher got a metal claw for example?).

The movie's final acts take us through the stereotypical lesbian sleepover, prom, boyfriend's heroic death and final confrontations but never seem laboured or like something we've seen before, even though we know most of it is. The final moments though of Jennifer's new "life" are genuinely affecting and heartbreaking and you may find yourself realising that, looking back, it was a hell of a fun ride and you actually enjoyed it. I'm not promising but as I said before I'm a forgiving audience.
The thing that does bother me is that if you try and take a message from the movie it's arguably that for a woman to find her power she has to become a sexualised "bad girl", naughtier type (as evidenced by Needy's deterioration in the mental hospital, the deleted scene of her whoring herself and her final bloody revenge). Needy kind of becomes Jennifer to survive, right down to the bloody slaughter, and even powers (though mercifully remains not evil). The alternative is an emasculation fantasy viewpoint. Personally that bothers me but I believe it was just written as a "punch the air" ending for the character of Needy and a kind of script or thematic poetic justice.

All told I was going to give the film a lower mark, I can see how many people will hate it, and the accusations of cliche, cheese, etc that will be levelled at it, perhaps fairly. As it's sat with me for a few days however I realise that I really dug the world it created and horror tale it spun me and I do want to watch again, and maybe see more of this world or others of it's ilk. A fun time, enjoyable viewing if not always easy, hooks you in and delivers what it should: thrills, occasional scares but mainly a fantasy escapist movie land where you can live a fight with a succubus through the protagonist's small town eyes. For me...

**** (4/5)

"I am going to eat you and shit out your soul Lesnicky! "

MM

7, 8, better stay up late.

2010-02-26T22:02:00.003Z

And here it is. The inevitable, presumably final, trailer for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake/reboot/reimagining by Michael Bay and co. Enjoy...

My first thoughts? I honestly think this looks potentially really cool, but I'm a very forgiving audience. Certain points made me jump, I was creeped out, scared, excited, and I like the look of most of what I see. The nitpicking fan boy in me is still unsure of Jackie Earle Haley's portrayal of Freddy Kreuger, in particular the voice, but the iconography of the character is heavy. I don't mind the repeated scenes from the original Wes Craven film but hope it's not a CGI overload. Yeah, I'm looking forward to hopefully, miraculously getting to the cinema soon when this is released, my fanboy sense is tingling.

MM

5, 6, grab your crucifix.

2010-02-26T21:52:00.005Z

Hey gang, a few days ago a new poster for the impending remake of Nightmare on Elm Street hit the web, not much of excitement or especially notable but I'm a sucker for all this promotional campaign stuff so thought I'd post it here for you all to see.

At the same times as the image was released old reliable AICN again posted an early review of the movie. Sad to say I have read it and it is spoiler filled so avoid like the plague if you don't want to know too much about plot changes and scripting (I'm aware it's a remake) or if you can't fight the curiosity like me then let temptation guide you here, but be warned!!! I kind of wish I had waited for spoiler free reviews.

MM

News - Paranormal Activity 2 gets Palmed off?

2010-02-26T21:32:00.005Z

OK, not normally a film which would interest me enough to post once, let alone twice but I just heard a rumour, courtesy again of AICN, that one of the directors up for the gig is a personal favourite of mine and somewhat legend in the field, Mr Brian De Palma. My interest just way peaked for this film now, I love Dressed to Kill and think Carrie is a work of genius filmic art, with some of the boldest directorial choices and shots ever commited to horror, it was even, for a time, a movie I quoted as my favourite. Sure there have been blips over the years with less than stellar movies but they always looked amazing and had a certain flair, not something I usually notice even but I am excited to see what can be brought to a tale which appeals to the ghost story nut part of me too.
Do check out the original article, by "Beaks" here.

In the interests of fairness and journalistic integrity two other names have also been proposed as possible helmers of this project: Brad Anderson and Greg McLean. Can't say I initially recognise either name though from whence this news originated, the site of the L.A Times:

"As for the young genre directors, they include a more Peli-ish group of freshmen and sophomores: Brad Anderson (director of a Woody Harrelson-Emily Mortimer thriller a few years back called "Transsiberian") and Greg McLean (a writer and director on an Australian horror movie called "Wolf Creek" -- another low-budget title that made a nice multiple, $16 million in U.S. box office)."

Interesting stuff, I'll be keeping my eye on this one now, and likely picking up the first movie on DVD.

MM

It's Alive!!!

2010-02-23T16:17:00.002Z

Yes we are! Massive apologies that due to various lifestyle changes Mr B and myself have been forced to neglect the blog somewhat of late, whilst I can't speak for him I would like to state that this was started as a fun side project for me and I wish it to stay that way. That said I will have to post less often unless someone wants to offer to help contribute as the simple fact is I'm working more and watching less of everything, including horror. It may also mean that posting decent pieces has to hold off until weekends or freer times. Likewise I have reluctantly been forced to accept that I shall have to stick to the original brief as designated in the site description above, meaning that I will only be writing news and reviews on horror films. I love television, always have, but there are literally thousands of tv review sites and millions of contributors if you're interested and it's just too demanding to review the shorter form for me. Specials and rare one offs maybe, and I may even chime in shorter pieces if time permits. I am so sorry not to be here as often but frankly I'm as sorry that I can't be watching more horror, again if someone wants to pay me to do so and write articles I'd be over the moon, the past year is one big audition if there are any scouts out there. If anyone wishes to air feelings about this decision feel free to do so on the usual channels. Now, that unpleasantness aside I began writing this to assure that I am NOT going anywhere. To wit I just watched a recent horror film and want to attempt a piece at this weekend so stay tuned if you want my take on Jennifer's Body. Oh and yes most of the stuff I watch is, by necessity, picked up on DVD, but still relevant I like to think. Until next time friends...

MM

Survivors, Series 2, Episode 2: Brief Commentary

2010-01-26T20:38:00.004Z

Very good stuff. Some massively intriguing questions of morality to ponder but veering on the side of good, which is my personal preference. Saying that, some of the decisions made and subtle moments were jarring and not too realistic, for example Tom's misbehaviour being followed up by chivalry to somehow make it more palatable. It was really good to generally see actual consequences, best of all in Sarah's reactions to her personal horrors. These dramas were the best handled but worse were the convenient moments where plot just seemed to favour our heroes, first in the discovery of food and drink then in the culmination of events in Abby's return, though the paranoia present here presents us with a whole new fear.
Regarding the other main plot it was excellent to see a furthering of the storyline n the secret lab and this led to some truly great mining of horrifying imagery and themes such as the infected victims and the horrible dawning of realisation of how bad things are out there, well represented through the city this time.
As a whole the things which make this show great are totally present though it has to be more careful with it's own science: in terms of fictional virus and actual scriptwriting. Still next week looks like a cracker, returning us again to our morality debate and a group of people from last year. Can't wait.

**** (4/5)

MM

Brief Update III: The Search For Sense

2010-01-26T20:12:00.004Z

Contrary to my previous report regarding Saw 6 director Kevin Greutert helming the Paranormal Activity sequel it now seems that his former pay masters aren't so keen to let him go and exercised a contract option forcing him into the big chair for the astronomic bad idea that is Saw 7: 3-D!!! For all the finer details check out this article from AICN.

In slightly more sane news the site is also reporting here that Avatar and Terminator Salvation star Sam Worthington is in talks with Universal to play the legendary dark prince of vampires in a rumoured Dracula: Year Zero project. Which sounds potentially like a good idea.

In other blog related news I just wanted to give all our readers a heads up that, as predicted, my digital t.v system has died on me. Sadly that means that I'm going to have to try and catch Being Human on downloads or DVD and as that is hard enough to schedule I have decided to knock the reviews on the head and probably just do another season summary like I did with the first run. However I am hoping to keep posting some thoughts on Survivors, the next episode of which airs tonight, so stay tuned...

MM

Being Human, Series 2, Episode 2: Review/Commentary

2010-01-22T19:39:00.003Z

At last! Sorry again for the delay. If it's any consolation dear reader I'm writing this as I fight not to get a cold and continue to plan dozens of things and find spare time in a bizarrely hectic schedule. To make matters worse my digital t.v box has completely died so this may be the last Being Human piece for a while. As for Survivors and other bits and pieces I will continue to try but I'm losing the fight against the tide so please be patient and I'm sorry if the reviews get briefer.
Right. Where were we? Oh yes,of course. To make things simpler for me, and a bit more interesting for you I decided in a brain wave today at my actual work to split the review into three sections, each dealing with a main character's storyline in the episode. To that end let's begin.

George and Nina:
Mercifully briefer than last week. Not a lot to say except I'm glad George isn't being allowed to forget his tryst last week. Still hoping for consequences proper though. Nina has sadly crossed the line of melodrama she was teetering on and become completely whiny and annoying. Her holier-than-thou attitude really grated and it's telling that when there was a very real possibilty of danger, as she was captured, I found myself not just not caring but actually hoping she gets killed off. And character and actress both deserve better. Sadly I have a horrible feeling they'll actually somehow cure her instead, thoigh I hope not as that sends out the message that you never have to adjust to anything you don't like, just whinge about it and be moody and distant to those around you and you'll get what you want.

Mitchell:
So cool to see the return of the cold opening flashback sequences. These always worked best last year with Mitchell, giving us glimpses of the centuries old history, as only his vampire nature can provide. Though here it was just as effective showing us simply the turn of the last century. It's deeply intriguing to see the vampire world adapting to Herrick's death, and cool that the writers resisted the urge to throw in a new big vampire villain, instead bravely showing the repercussions, far and wide, of "the death of a king". Every touch was great, loved the sub plot about the vampire who also tried to reform, and his culture clash with Nina as he dealt with his guilt. It was also good to see returning characters playing into the storylines, giving the real sense of an underworld falling into chaos and brewing trouble and anarchy. The interaction was good too, both sides displaying that they have a history and working together despite being on very opposite moral ground and sides of a potential coming conflict. Although even that could be detrimental to everyone, interesting questions raised. And nice to see even small touches of how the supernatural operates in this world, such as the morgue attendant who was previously paid off to hide vampire victims and his worrying attack of conscience now. One of many events pushing our "hero" and forcing a greater role.

Annie:
Wow! I never thought last year that I'd ever think Annie's plot would be head and shoulders above anything else in an episode. But it all comes down to the awesome imagery and spectacle as hell itself literally showed up and tried to take her. Genuinely scary, creepy, effective and perfectly toned stuff, really made you tense and feel for that character somehow using just a door, lights, wind and the best speech and dialogue imaginable. Raised the entire episode up and on its own earned the star rating given, excellent use of the genre in telling this story. On a related note I loved the quirky insanity of the touch as Terry Wogan (actually appearing here playing himself!) and various t.v and newspapers began speaking to Saul, though it may have been a bit too much for some. But it's all about how well this built up the new mythology, showing that the afterlife has terrors, can communicate and control, and wants Annie. Though it sucks a bit that in the course of this the writers have now literally taken away her power. Whatever happpened to feminism eh? Finally the simple and stirring humanity at the heart of her realisation of which of her admirers cared more about her and how it was shown was a poignant and emotive touch.

***** (5/5)

MM

Brief Update 2: Electric Boogaloo

2010-01-20T20:41:00.004Z

Hmmm, according to the Hollywood Reporter British writer supreme and my personal hero Russell T. Davies is developing an American Torchwood series. The show may still feature John Barrowman reprising his role of Captain Jack Harkness. This could be ace or truly, hideously terrible. The UK show got progressively better as it went on but having just picked up book 2 of Davies' The Writer's Tale shows how much work and passion goes into this, I can't see him compromising or phoning it in. Plus, new US sci-fi/horror: colour me intrigued.
For anyone unfamilar with the show I recommend it, in brief it involves a covert group of alien hunters dealing with the bizarre and supernatural/extraterrestrial. But that doesn't scratch the surface of some of it's finer stuff. Check out Adrift, Fragments or the whole of Children of Earth.

MM

A Brief Update

2010-01-20T20:23:00.003Z

Hi gang, apologies if things fall away a bit here but things are crazy hectic in my personal life at the moment and it's making it difficult to keep on top of things, I will try though. To that end sincere apologies on lack of a new Being Human review, they will probably continue to get later and briefer generally but I'm hoping to have something of decent size and quality down at the weekend. Now the "best laid plans" theory probably comes into play...
Anyways enough about me. I am writing with the news that last years "sleeper hit" Paranormal Activity has already been given a date, tentatively up against Saw 7 (seriously!) this winter, and will be directed, ironically enough, by Saw 6's Kevin Gruetert. On a side note what a horror movie name that guy has, it's almost the word gruesome but more twisted. Or is that just me? In any case I have to catch up on the first film on DVD when they extend days to 32 hours.
The series' original creator Oren Peli is busy on other projects but remains involved as a producer and has been talking up the sequel for worried fans, to be written by t.v veteran Michael R. Perry. Who? Well according to AICN:

"Writer Perry has previously scripted multiple episodes of MILLENNIUM, LAW & ORDER: SVU (he was also a producer on that series), and THE DEAD ZONE for television."

I'm not sure if I have any strong feelings about this but I hope I enjoy the first movie and that this doesn't suck, too much of that around, and isn't horribly derivative or sloppy. Hopefully be posting more soon...

MM

Wolfman a Gogos

2010-01-13T22:16:00.002Z

Hey guys, I'm sure there are several readers of this site much more au fait with horror and it's history than me, and I'll admit that I hadn't heard of an artist named Basil Gogos. Supposedly regarded as something of a living legend he did some well-regarded classically styled posters of the Universal monsters in days gone by, well Chud.com has an exclusive image, brand newly created by Mr Gogos for the new Wolfman, and it is well worth checking out, especially if this sort of thing floats your boat, I know you're out there film and horror historians and lovers, so follow the link here

MM

Being Human, Series 2, Episode 1: Further Commentary

2010-01-13T21:34:00.005Z

The initial piece I wrote on this was a tad rushed due to my digibox breaking and me watching it at midnight on i-player. THis situation may lead to me not being able to review any future episodes if I can't watch them so spologies for that. But I wanted to clarify a few things I said and give a bit more detail.
Firstly the bad. Iwas really annoyed at how the ahow allowed Annie to find her strength and power last year, only to rob her of it again now. She is still proving subservient to a man, lacking any social skills and trying to fit into a world she never can. Sorry but the central idea of a ghost getting a job needs more work if it's not to be ridiculous, the character seems to be filling a personality type different to what she is, if this is what you wanted then why not allow Annie to ascend or whatever you wan to call it and introduce a new, dorky female human to offset things. And stop giving her the worst faux dialogue too.
Now, the good. There were two main things I forgot to mention before as further justification for the score. Firstly the werewolf transformation scenes, especially Nina's (complete with distracting wolf boob) were surprisingly good and horror film level quality, as was the previously mentioned but brilliant scene of the poor soul in the decompression chamber bleeding out of several orifices, and a few newly created ones, and being torn apart by the curse as he was forced not to change.
Secondly I forgot to flag an excellent scene with Daisy, the vampire slut, in the hospital as she visits her now elderly daughter (the last person who really "needed her") and fights to deal with what she has become and the ramifications of the conflict between her former real life and the worst of the life she now finds herself in ("I'll kill her" she tells George who simply and beautifully responds "Go right ahead, but don't think for one second that that'll make her go away"), powerful, affecting and the kind of thing this show needs to focus on. Oh, and also how nice was the little touch when Mitchell, on a related note, found his happiness just being on the street among neighbours, being accepted and "normal" and saying so much with one word ("finally"). It won't last. Until next time faithful reader.

MM

Survivors, Series 2, Episode 1: Commentary

2010-01-13T21:03:00.004Z

O.k I know I'm pushing the bar of what could be classed as horror again, but hey I am aware, besides that's simply my taste, as anyone who follows the blog will know. I do plan on writing a piece maybe, at a less hectic time, about this debate regarding what fits into a perceived genre divide (and I did have a very stimulating phone conversation with Mr B about it just this weekend). Ultimately though, my blog, my rules (well our blog but I did actually verify the validity of reviewing this here and my co-author agreed, it's also a piece which brings back great memories of the two of us reviewing the show and debating via text message last year before we ever had a blog).
Back to the show, and we pick things up a little slowly. The disparate group are still inexplicably held together (an annoying factor which, along with the perceived rank structure is never explained) but have now lost their de facto leader, hauled off by shady types, admittedly this seems like a huge cliche but this plotline points to some really intriguing sci-fi/cult bizarre and possibly cool story possibilities. Nice hints of a broader canvas than the dramas the show specialises in, let's just hope it's not a mislead and that the plot involving Abby focuses more on this and less on the morally dubious "we have to kill her to save others" stuff, though that could work to if done well enough.
In the immediate present the main conflict of the week started out as the focus to save Greg, shot by the mysterious agent-types at last seasons' close, here we see some really intriguing (and brilliantly directed) flashbacks which reveal more about this man's particular character then the whole of last season, as well as clarifying his position regarding the other members (father figure who hates the violence he sees within Tom). More of this for every cast member would be greatly appreciated.
As I said this started out being the major plot but that quickly became an attempt to save Anya and Al, who had run off to a hospital to get things to treat Greg and got trapped under collapsing rubble. It was explained in the show, and there was a reason for it, but yes this particular plot, and the rescue attempts it spawned, were as cliche and ludicrous as they sound, though it did give us a couple of great character moments from the two trapped individuals again, Anya showing her vulnerability and Al getting what could have been a cheesy line but here was pitched perfectly to be ptentially the highlight of the episode ("I'd like to be in love. I think I'd be good at it").
Let me sidetrack here to say that it seems quite weird seeing these people in a major city, and harder to pull off the suspension of disbelief required that so few people are left alive in the world,they really must highlight the weirdness of abandoned suburbia rather than having dozens of people appear, it harms the shows central premise. And whilst we're on the subject what were the odds that the major villian, who made a point of this world being every man for himself, having two perfectly stereotypical bouncers to back him up? Little niggles can sometimes bug me.
And that brings me to the real dramatic meat of the episode, as Sarah basically had to prostitute herself, leading to the most horrific situation, to redeem herself for her misgivings last season. I hope this isn't forgotten and the extreme ramifications and injustice of this are dealt with, as it is this is potentially combustible territory, but thought provoking and that's what hooked me on this show in the first place.
Overall then, a good start. Lots to build on, plenty has me very excited. Still lots to chew over and talk about, plus things to get you thinking. And we end on something which I have personally wanted to happen long ago, Tom has to admit to being a killer and we can now see how the group fares without him, introducing whole new questions. It's good to have the show back, I shall definitely be tuning in next week but let me say great acting from the usuals (Zoe Tapper and Paterson Joseph especially), though sadly still not from Julie Graham (bad casting as the show's lead) or some of the guest stars, plenty of great scenes among some annoying things but they seem a bit nitpicky. My score?

**** (4/5)

MM

Next week's thought: Does violence beget violence or is it necessary in a world where only the strong will survive?

Being Human, Series 2, Episode 1: Some Commentary

2010-01-11T18:48:00.003Z

First up let me qualify that this show will definitely not be to everyone's tastes. My good friend and co-author here, for example, claims his biggest issue with the show is being overly "emo" and not showing any characters really revelling in their dark sides and that aspect of the supernatural experience. Wow should he ever not watch the last episode.
I shan't go into the premise of the show, as that doesn't begin to sum it up, or revert to summary, watch the episode or find that in multiple other places. Do note that I am a huge fan of the show though and I feel that will colour any opinion made, it's just one of those productions. So let me begin by qualifying that I loved the episode: the drama was played beautifully, acting was almost uniformly top notch and as an extension of mythology it does a great job too, if a tiny bit slow.
Some nice touches are evident here, including the vampire couple (though the show is straying dangerously close to stealing wholesale from Buffy, a fact not helped by referencing the similarities in actual dialogue). I should also say that I thought the scene in the decompression chamber was excellent: disgusting and gory but so juicily intriguing and a great, original idea (can you fight a werewolf's curse by removing tidal/lunar forces, what if the conflict just tore the victim apart, as shown here?).
THere was some not so good though. Mitchell and George, for example, seem to have just swapped storylines from last year, with nothing new brought in. Annie is still a bit ludicrous at times but genius at others, as is the general plotting and dialogue, whose flaws are still evident (soapy, too obviously scripted, unnatural).
In short it won't win anyone over, and isn't exactly trend-setting or up there with even the best this show can do, but it whet the appetite, satisfied a craving and proved sufficient for fans. There is potential for greatness too and there were definitely some people and moments better than others, who prop the show, and score, up (probably a whole star below belongs just to Sinead Keenan as Nina). So, for me...

**** (4/5)

Tomorrow I shall be watching all new Survivors. Quite stoked for that.

MM

Being Human returns

2010-01-09T14:17:00.007Z

If somehow you've managed to miss the fair amount of publicity material surrounding the return of Being Human to BBC3 I just wanted to give a heads up that the new series starts tomorrow at 9.30. Whilst not a show that my co-author particularly rates I highly recommend checking it out, it was a highlight of british horror tv for me last year and I personally think one of the best written shows of it's type to come from these shores. Can't wait to see what new trials await Mitchell, George and Annie following last years dramatic finale and the continued attempts to find humanity in a harsh world whilst, as the newest promo suggests, facing their demons.

MM

Knowing - Some Commentary

2010-01-08T13:15:00.004Z

Warning - spoilers all the way throughout this commentary.

I'd heard much about Knowing, but didn't have a chance to catch it at the cinema. So, it was with some trepidation that I got the film 'on demand' from the cable provider. I was not at this stage 'Knowing' (ha ha) what to expect so approached it with a fairly open mind. What followed was worth watching, save for the final 20 minutes or so. Argh.

Knowing tells the story of a time capsule created fifty years ago, that's opened in 'modern day'. Nicholas Cage is a father and an MIT worker, who manages to get hold of a paper from the time capsule with numbers on it. He decodes the number sequences, realising that they relate to disasters and incidents that are going to happen. Unfortunately, the final sequence (discovered close to the end of the film) is the end of the world.

Angels or aliens - probably depends on your own belief system - become involved and it is apparent that these beings are responsible for the code produced and that they effectively spirit children away to a new 'eden'. This of course leaves the end of the world to occur as a solar flare blasts the planet. A most pessimistic (and unusual) Hollywood ending.

Whatever these beings are meant to be in the film, their presence is uniquely sinister, unhelpful and generally disturbing. Cage goes from a religio-sceptic through to a believer by the film, though I'm still not sure I understand his journey from the first watch. He's also blasted off the planet along with everyone else.

So, aliens or angels or whatever knew the world was coming, but did little or nothing to help, electing instead to send a bunch of kids out to pasture on a new world with what looked like a tree of life and a garden of eden? Oh please. Exactly how will they survive? A few posts on the IMDB message boards suggested they could be vegetarian and eat fruit etc - well, just how many kids know which berries are toxic for example? Oh how to manage agrocultural land to produce crops? Give me a break. Might be a step too far, but maybe those sinister alien chaps will help out?

End of the world films aren't usually my bag, as quite often they are stuffed to the gills with huge special effects, little story and dodgy acting. This film started out differently but was so high concept by the end that I was left utterly annoyed. If the aliens were so powerful, why didn't they help out with some solar shielding technology? Or, was that not possible? I might be wrong of course, but I also read that on a science journal a solar flare wouldn't have the effect shown here. Whatever. Either way, this film started out very interestingly and was in the end ruined by a high concept idea that seemed ill-thought through. Like the worst kind of haute cuisine, it failed to satisfy on any kind of meaningful level, yet promised so much at the start.

More preview info

2010-01-07T17:08:00.008Z

Hi guys, just learned courtesy of a usual source at AICN that John Carpenter is returing with a new movie next year, in the horror genre that holds some of his greatest hits (Halloween, Christine,) and biggest disasters (Vampires, Ghosts of Mars). Whilst initially not as exciting to me as some of the man's more rabid die hard fans the premise did cause me to sit up and take a bit of notice. The film is entitled The Ward and supposedly the plot is a trippy little tale of an institutionalised young woman, played by the luscious but career-unwise Amber Heard, terrorised by a ghost. Not much is out there but Quint from the aforementioned site did unearth a brief behind the scenes clip, more of a slight mood setting appetite whetter than any real meat but hey it's worth a couple seconds of your day.

Something apt

2010-01-06T14:46:00.002Z

Hi guys. Long time, no see. Many apologies for lack of posting but obviously the holiday season was totally crazy, more so than usual for me. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't be writing this today if it wasn't for the fact that I'm snowed in, unable to get to work and stuck in the house. How about that crazy weather huh? On the subject of that, and related to Mr B's article on things (particularly smaller scale stuff) to look out for in 2010 I thought I'd share a trailer for a little, dramatic, somewhat high-concept horror piece that I found. I'm told that it doesn't convey the genius of the dramatic touches, writing or character work but the concept sure got me interested, and suitably chilled (pun not intended). In any case sorry about the fitting nature but see what you think...

MM

Is There A Horror Film In 2010 You're Looking Forward To?

2010-01-05T15:47:00.002Z

Yes, of course there is! Probably plenty, but I'm only just catching up with the news so there'll be a lot of them I don't yet know about. However, The Wolfman is coming soon though (Feb 12th US?) and Daybreakers (maybe a decent vampire film) could be worth a watch.

As you all know, I'm not always the most mainstream of horror film viewer so I'm looking for something a little more interesting to scare the nights away with. Tony looks like a decent British indie slasher, whilst from last year I'm still keen to see The Box, if not keen enough to have went to the cinema in the first place.

An interesting trend to notice is that there's two similar horror/fantasy pieces due in 2010, Black Death (Sean Bean - looks like Boromir is out again) and Season Of The Witch (Nicholas Cage). Both include a witch, some sorcery and some fantasy sword play. Should be excellent!

Apparition - Dark Castle Entertainment - is being talked up for 2010 and sounds like it could be worth a watch, though whether you believe the 'based on a true story' thing is up to you.

My own personal massive recommendation is to, if you can, get hold of The Christmas Tale. I've probably mentioned it before, but it's one of the strangest, most disturbing things you'll see. The film stars Ivana Baquero of Pan's Labyrinth fame. To say more would be an injustice. Go see! In the meantime, I'm off to see if there's anything scary on demand.

Paranormal Activity - Some Commentary

2009-12-14T17:45:00.003Z

Yes, yes, I know. Of course I've bloody seen it (nice of my co-author to check back with me I must say!). Is it a shameless rip off? Well, you could say that about any film genre ever that's represented - in fact you could say that slasher films have many times more 'rip off' films than the 'found footage subgenre, but that's another argument for another time. I am after all providing some commentary to one film, rather than debating it's existence within the sub-genre in which it sits.

One thing that Marvel Man hit the nail on the head with is the implication that this is a marmite film. It most certainly is. Let's set the scene:

Story - there's a spoiler in here, but only one
A couple, one a well off male named Micah and the other, Katie (a student who apparently only studies once in the whole film) live in a big, nice house. Katie claims she's been haunted at various periods of her life, so Micah suggests they use a video camera to record it. This provides the 'found footage' that the film entirely comprises of. So, what is shown? Well, a variety of scenes unfold including a ouija board setting alight, doors opening and closing by themselves, lights going on and off, strange noises etc. Eventually rolling into a possession story (sorry if you didn't expect that).

Positives
It's a great film for the horror fan who prefers to leave much to the imagination when it comes to scenes. It's not all background music, swelling scores, blood all over the place. Quite the opposite. It's naturalistic almost in style. To top this, a fan of the genre who is familiar with apparent 'real life' cases of hauntings will spot the poltergeist build up and will get a thrill from the way in which the action ratchets up a notch every night. Finally, Paranormal Activity keeps the action claustraphobic and places the protagonist in danger in the place we are meant to feel most safe/secure - our own bedroom.

Negatives
The film is over long. Some may disagree, but I felt it just strayed into the slightly too long territory, with a little much exposition for my taste. This brings me to another criticism - Micah. It's almost as though the two things are tied togther. I find that some of his actions were completely inexplicable to me - the thing with the flour was sensible enough, but he offered up no alternative when they couldn't reach the demonologist - when everyone who has seen any single haunting type horror would have been shouting 'go and see a priest!'. Micah also repeatedly goads the demon or whatever it is, despite seeing evidence literally in front of his eyes that supernatural activity is taking place - yet not denying it is happening.

The ending
Perhaps the biggest let-down for me was the ending. I've no doubt that getting the ending of a 'found footage' film is a tricky thing, but man... I heard that Steven Spielberg had something to do with it. How do you say no to a guy like that? In this case, I think they should have done. I'm not offering an alternative, I'm just saying that the ending didn't resonate with me. It wasn't terrible, but it did feel awfully 'Hollywood' for my taste.

Should I see it?
The question really is, why haven't you seen it yet? You'll either love it (flaws and all) or are possessive of no imagination and hate it. Entirely up to you, but it's a worthy addition to the genre. One can only hope that, if there is a sequel, it takes a more standard narrative progression for a possession tale.

Paranormal Activity

2009-11-28T17:30:00.005Z

Has anyone out there actually been to see this film. It has really caught my attention, even though I feel it would be very polarising and I could either love or despise it. According to the various reviews and conversations I've been having it's either terrifying and original, taking the Blair Witch themes and plot one step further or quite tame and a total rip-off, nowhere near as good as it or other people think. If I ever do get round to catching it somehow I'd be intrigued to see what I make of it, and will post my thoughts. Likewise let me know yours if you're out there and have an opinion, I'm very interested.

MM

Vampire news to sink your teeth into...

2009-11-28T17:17:00.003Z

... (sorry.) No I am not talking about the god awful Twilight franchise which seems to have hypnotised teenage girls and the quality impaired, that will NEVER be covered by me. However what I did come across were a couple of other interesting tidbits about undoubtedly better upcoming movies starring the fang-baring blood suckers:

First up I noticed that there is a 30 Days of Night sequel headed our way, along with yet more future releases planned, and thought this worth mentioning. I liked the first flick, which I bought and watched around the same time as Mr B, but I think he got more out of it. Still a very enjoyable movie, ripe for a rewatch, and this still definitely interests me.

Secondly whilst sifting for gems through the news on this especially bored Saturday I came across a synopsis and trailer for an interesting sounding film called Daybreakers. Upon viewing the promo piece it looks a little tame and perhaps too geek-based and less horrific than could be good for it, but the premise still seems really enticing, and don't get me started on the cast. BD (of course) says of the film:

With all of the remakes shrouding the box office, it's nice to see some unique and thought-provoking horror films hitting theaters. Lionsgate is gearing up for their January 8, 2010 release of the long-delayed Daybreakers, Peter and Michael Spierig's sophomore genre effort that follows a race of vampires who have all but wiped out the world's blood supply. Interesting premise, no? Check out the second full trailer by reading on.

BD Horror News - A Second Trailer for Lionsgate's 'Daybreakers'

MM

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever!?

2009-11-28T16:55:00.005Z

As if any further evidence of the differing fandoms of Mr B and myself were needed I'd guess that today we both saw news which interested us respectively on the same site, during down time and random surfing. Yes Mr B, I too occasionally visit bloodydisgusting.com, where I found out for the first time about an upcoming (but worryingly DTV) sequel to a film I love, Cabin Fever. Without the original director and only the surviving cast member signs didn't look good. The synopsis provided intrigues a little but with potential for it all to be so very hokey... let's just hope its in a good way (like the original or i.e Drag Me To Hell) and not as terrible and Prom Night-ish as it sounds. The official press release reads:

"Cabin Fever delivered terror in the flesh but your flesh will crawl with Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, the bloodcurdling sequel to hit horror film. Days after a killer virus consumed his friends, Paul emerges from a ditch by a river. Though his body has been ravaged by the virus, he is determined to survive and to warn others of the danger. However, a water bottling plant has already distributed contaminated water to the local high school. The school’s students are excitedly preparing for the prom, unaware they’re about to have a grisly date with death. The DVD contains thrilling bonus materials including audio commentary, a “Making of” feature and gag reel. An Official Selection of Screamfest L.A., Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever will be available in rated and unrated versions on February 16, 2009, coinciding with the Blu-ray debut of the original."

Also debuting is the cover art for the piece, which does little to dissuade my fears as it tows the line between genius visual imagery and unnecessarily cheesy, and loses. Sigh, hope sometimes pans out right?

MM

Hierro Trailer

2009-11-28T16:05:00.002Z

If you like your horror a little more cerebral, Hierro is definitely going to be for you. A Spanish thriller with a difference, I'm looking forward to it.

3,4, better lock your door...

2009-11-25T21:41:00.007Z

Hi again gang. I'm getting pretty hyped about the Nightmare on Elm Street reimagining heading our way next year, enjoying the pre-release excitement before the often inevitable disappointment. To that end forgive the fact that this is barely news but the first clear picture of Jackie Earle Haley's new interpretation of Freddy Kreuger was released today. Unfortunately it's only the action figure but it does show you clearer than we've yet seen how they're going with this and, yes, it's remarkably similar to what we've already seen. Good or bad thing? I don't know, looks good to me. The image originated at figures.com but is gradually being removed from the net by a sweeping and presumably panicked marketing department. Doesn't stop this fearless reporter though. Thanks to AICN for the heads up on this. See what you think below, oh and clicking on the image should give you a larger and clearer picture:

MM

Scream Queens

2009-11-24T20:45:00.003Z

Hey loyal few! Apologies for the reduction in rate of posts here, it'll probably dwindle to a bit less than we got used to as we head into this busy time of year, and it's eventual end. I did want to mention something I saw last night though and which I figured would be appropriate to bring up here.
As I was doing my usual channel surfing I hit upon an obscure digital channel named "Viva". Recently launched and kind of a weird music and shows mix showing everything from reality shows to sitcoms. In this particular case it was screening a show named Scream Queens. Has anyone seen this? I had, truthfully, in passing and disregarded it. For anyone unaware who gives a damn it is a cheesy, fairly typical american reality show in the whole Bachelorette/Beauty and the Geek etc mould, but related to horror. Basically a bunch of wannabe horror actresses (get the title yet?) are competing for a role in Saw 6 (obviously the show is not live or in the least bit up to date). Along the way they are mentored by an acting coach I haven't heard of, film director James Gunn (Slither), and Saw actress Shawnee Smith. The girls must complete various challenges to impress these judges and win the day.
Now I get that the show isn't great, as I say it took me this long to even bother properly watching it and half the contestants are gone. It's also the worst genre of t.v spawned by the depths of Hell. Add to that the blatant attempts at titilation and exploitation of these girls and yes it looks bad.
But something last night drew me in. The craziness and sheer wtf moments of the tasks I saw perhaps? Everything from being dumped in a swamp of blood and told to act, to being locked in a morgue just to achieve an acting effect that a good imagination could utilise (or a better actor). Finally this culminated in our director dropping live cockroaches on each girl. The first thing that sucked me in was this sheer lunacy. Then something happened, I started buying into the melodrama, recognising the Hollywood nature of how this is probably what the "biz" is like. Along the way it was interesting to see the trade being plyed in the form of watching Mr Gunn at work, or seeing a glimpse into acting coaching. There are some truly terrible actresses, some greatly fitting B-movie ones, and a couple of potentially great new stars, though they have no visible or interesting personalities as such. The real meat here is perhaps the glimpse into the industry itself, imagining being there in front of and behind the camera and just the voyeurism typical of the genre, but in this case showing me something that interests me in the putting together of horror and utilisation/manipulation of it's tropes. We'll forget the pointless attempts at poignancy from the contestants' sob stories and say that this might just become a permanent guilty pleasure, I'd be interested to know what others' thoughts are on this and what they make of it.

MM

Friday The 13th Part 3 IN 3-D!!! - Quick Thoughts.

2009-11-22T13:05:00.003Z

This movie aired twice over the weekend as part of the whole season described below. I didn't watch the whole thing (partly due to the hazy, coloured effects which were just headache inducing without the glasses on, but also because of what I saw). I thought I would chime in with opinions on what I did see though.
The first scene was an attack in a barn with a rake, which wanted so badly to be shocking and did feature a corpse hanging in an almost affecting way in the 3-d but after realising that implements of imapling could point almost from the screen this death was milked to, well death, and robbed of already ropy impact.
The next thing I happened across whilst channel hopping was the entire last half hour. Up to now Texas Chain Saw Massacre had the most annoying final act in horror but no more. The worst synth score of the 80's, climaxing in electronic and irritating shrieks with every jump shot as if the 3-d effect itself demanded it and happening every 3 seconds, a lame chase, effects rendered impotent and overkilled, a completely lacklustre and non-threatening Jason, a criminally boring scene and even a rehashed first film shock at the end which robs both of any impact. If anyone has seen the full thing let me know if the effect works and what it's like. It is not one I will be going out of my way to catch properly.

MM

Greatest 3-d horror moments.

2009-11-22T12:53:00.004Z

To those who didn't catch this, Channel 4 here in the U.K last night aired an hour long special of the greatest moments of 3-d on tv and film to date. A lot of the scenes and clips shown were from horror so if you get a chance do catch the repeat tonight, ideally with 3-d glasses if you have them and the technology works for you. Unfortunately it doesn't for me due to my lack of decent eyesight but I still watched the piece and got the intent. What's featured were everything from the terrible to the, well frankly worse, but with a couple of good moments and a wow factor. Spoilers lie ahead but viewers saw,or can expect to see, scenes from:

Flesh For Frankenstein: sample dialogue "You cannot truly know death until you have f@*ked life,... in the gall bladder", no seriously I was already in stitches at this hilariously crazy level of terrible but the scene shown itself, with the comedy "spleen on a stick" lunging at the audience member confirmed this as just excellent comedy. That was the intent, right?

Creature From The Black Lagoon: No, not Brooke Shields, the classic monster creature feature star, extremely well designed with, as Kim Newman states in the show, great dimensionality anyway in a seminal film.

Jaws 3: Truly abysmally filmed effects, already poor, slowed down and bearing at you but still a slow, rubber shark doing so even in three dimensions.

...and another piece which eagle eyed viewers will note has been left out, because it is, of course, above this little box...

MM

Scariest Who ever?

2009-11-22T12:33:00.005Z

About a week ago the BBC aired the first of the last episodes of its popular flagship sci-fi show Doctor Who to star David Tennant before his announced departure, entitled The Waters of Mars and featuring an H2O based villain possesing the crew of a Mars base 50 years from now, yes I know it's a show aimed primarily at a younger or family audience and not our genre as such but I wanted to focus on horror elements ok? Put down the pitchforks (fitting though they might be). Hey, my blog, my rules, allow me the indulgence.
Ignoring the excellent s-f elements except to say that the climax was excellently written and unbelievably well played what got me thinking about horror is specifically when people came up to discuss the show with me post airing (I am kind of a well known and renowned geek and, as such, sort of a spokesman for these things at work and among friends). When describing the episode many people said their younger child viewers, the target audience remember, commented on how scary the villains seemed. I had heard this in pre-publicity but it comes up a lot, being a show about strange monsters so I thought nothing of it. Likewise when watching the episode initially under the gaze of this hardened extreme horror viewer I found it beyond tame. It did get me thinking though, would this be a lot of kids' first experience of horror tropes and conventions? Maybe even an early memory of being switched on to the genre? Surely that can only be a good thing right?
Watching back I saw the point, if you didn't know, for example, zombie movie conventions then here they are. A bunch of protagonists in a combined space fall prey to an infection, it changes them into the same people but looking different, almost decomposed somehow. The aim is merely to infect others whilst shambling slowly and speaking as little as possible, if at all. It was quite effective as an early, tame version of this. So kudos for that in an already great episode.
The final point of interest comes back again to my idea of horror potentially also coming from good storytelling and horrific ideas, sometimes emotional (see the previous piece on horror as heart breaker). I doubt anyone, child or adult, was prepared for the moment at the climax of the story where the main female character (the stereotypical survivor of this show's set rules and arguably the equivalent of the "final girl") realises that she should have died, our hero was wrong to save her and the consequences could be vast. Shockingly she uses her blaster gun to end her own life in an exceptionally dark and shocking moment, which will no doubt echo and cement the horror nature of this in most younger memories, and the piece will doubtless be remembered and labelled as dark due to this and the ominous portents of the central characters death and frightening defiance during his change of character. I cannot recommend this enough but I am somewhat biased, if you're interested in a score from this uber geek though...

**** (4/5)

MM

An Exorcist Mini Series?

2009-11-15T14:23:00.001Z

Oh god, I hope so. Bloody Disgusting has the news...

Harry Brown - Representative Of Real Life Horror?

2009-11-15T14:15:00.003Z

I'm going to see Harry Brown tonight, a film that I'm hugely looking forward to. In my younger, formative days I wasn't very impressed with Michael Caine but as I've got older I've enjoyed his acting more and more. Some have said this is his magnum opus, his Gran Torino. I do see where the comparisons are coming from, but it's a different take for reasons I'll go into in the review after I've seen the film.

So, what's this commentary of a British thriller doing on a horror blog? It's more simple than you think. Whilst ghosts, the supernatural, insane masked killers etc are frequent tropes of the genre, Harry Brown confronts a more apparent and readily accessible true-life horror - the breakdown of society. The hoodies, the druggies, the low-lives, the chavs, those with disregard for the law and others - this is where true horror is for some and also where the phrase 'Lawless Britain' was spawned.

If you've ever walked down the street feeling nervous about who you might bump into, if your phone has ever been half inched, if you've ever been threatened or attacked then you've probably felt more real fear than 100 horror movies provide. This is Harry Brown explores and the reasons behind the will of one man to fight back.

Dead Snow - Quick Thoughts

2009-11-15T14:13:00.004Z

I'd been looking forward to Dead Snow for a while - I'd heard that it was a fun film with lots of in-genre references, some (very) black humour and playing out a cliched but cool story. I wasn't disappointed I can assure you of that. Much intestinal tearing viewing later, and I'm glad to say it was worth the anticipation. Look out for the full review in the next few days.

Why Great horror is heartbreaking.

2009-11-02T23:12:00.004Z

One of my fondest genre memories is of going to a local art-house cinema with Mr B to watch the original Dark Water. After being initially underwhelmed I was terrified and heartbroken by the end revelations, finding myself deeply affected by the past history of this ghost, and abuse suffered of a young child, far scarier than any unexplained supernatural force or o.t.t demon etc in my opinion.

Why do I bring this up? Well I'd ask you all to check out this article at IO9 on the subject of why heartbreaking horror is great. An interesting piece which plays to my fan strengths so be warned there is a heavy emphasis on the work of Joss Whedon (though not exclusively).

Big hello to everyone who has been coming to mention the blog and any new viewers. Hope to catch you all soon.

MM

Real Life Horror/Ghost Stories

2009-11-01T19:35:00.002Z

Unfortunately, due to a variety of conspiring circumstances I haven't had a chance to write up some of my most recent horror watching. However, as every day is like Halloween to some degree (i.e. I'm probably reading about some sort of horror) I'd like to continue the scary angle and provide a link to a bunch of apparently true ghost stories.

You can read them here on The Apron Stage blog. Perhaps best of all is the fact that they take place in am asylum! Surely one of the scariest places ever!

Halloween round up

2009-11-01T11:55:00.003Z

So how did everyone enjoy their night? Sadly a combination of illness, tiredness and indeciseveness prevented it from being such an event as I would like, and has previously been the ritual. I did still watch a couple of television specials (as is my tradition) and part of a movie. Here's the brief blow by blow.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season 6 Episode 5 "All The Way"

Included mainly because of the atmosphere of the day evoked. I usually watch the series 4 special (Fear, Itself) but opted for this one for a change. As a stand-alone it's a bit too bogged down in continuity, which is to be expected for an ongoing show. Did have a brilliant cliche reversal though as an old man is set up as crazy and even given a horror film style back story, lures in children and is then killed by them as they are revealed as vampires, the show's twisting of such established formula being displayed in a microcosm. The seasonal touches were nice and give a great feel, particularly of the U.S love for Halloween, there is one hilarious joke moment but the whole thing is let down by a plot which, now, is culturally overdone and detestable, the whole "Twilight/Vampire Diaries" teen girl pining for a monster schtick which I have no tolerance for. Still a great show though with good acting, believable characters and a sense of fun.

*** (3/5)

The Simpsons
Treehouse of Horror 14

Sadly the opposite of that last sentence. Nowhere near as good as some of this show's specials, relies now on doing crazy things which the show proper couldn't do, and homaging films quite poorly, some great (The Dead Zone), others not even horror (Fantastic Voyage? seriously?). Crucially not very funny or imaginative, a real shame.

* (1/5)

Halloween

O.k, honesty time, I fell asleep about half an hour in. I will do a proper review, with scoring, at a time when I can watch the whole thing properly. What I did notice is the bold and unsettling nature of where Carpenter places the camera, adding to the disturbing feel. Point of view shots in the place of the killer, or even nobody in particular mesh with glimpses of the bogeyman far scarier than the excesses of modern horror, including the remake. Struck me as just a good film, outside of it's generic and historical background. I genuinely look forward to seeing it again properly on the DVD I bought over a year ago, and still haven't watched (though I have seen the film before, I like my opinions to be fresh though).

Hope the weather isn't getting people too down where you are, hope to catch up again soon...

MM

Halloween 1 and 2 - On T.V Tonight

2009-10-31T19:52:00.003Z

Somewhat obviously John Carpenter's classic (and still so superior) seventies slasher (some argue the original slasher) is getting an airing tonight. It will be featuring on BBC 2 at 11.20pm, immediately following a showing of a Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" special on Channel 4 at 10.50. The original Halloween will be immediately followed by it's vastly underrated sequel if you can stay up that late (I will be taping). Halloween 3, the one with the cult following but without Michael Myers, replaced by a plot involving mind controlled children, will be shown tomorrow by the same channel at midnight. Tonight is, again unsurprisingly, an embarassment of riches for we horror fans. Whilst Simpsons and the first Halloween will be forming part of my horror night others can take their pick from these, the aforementioned Dead Set or:

Ghost Ship on ITV1 at 11pm
The Watcher on Film 4 at 11pm
Prom Night on Five USA at 9pm (oh I wish this didn't clash with my plans)

and a variety of other options to satellite, cable or other viewers. Let us know what you watched and what you thought of it and enjoy the scares...

MM

Dead Set - On E4 tomorrow night!

2009-10-30T22:45:00.005Z

If you're looking for perfect gory, apocalyptic, frightening fun to compliment your Halloween then look no further. I have been championing this to anyone who would listen ever since it first aired last year and if you haven't seen it then I heartily recommend you do so now.
I will avoid a long, detailed review, partly for time and also to avoid too many spoilers for anyone wanting to watch it untainted by knowing too much. What I will say is that it is one of the best written horrors, big or small screen, of the last ten years. Charlie Brooker (of critical journalistic fame) sets his satirical sights on the reality t.v, specifically Big Brother, phenomenon of British culture and how its all turning us into zombies, here literally. In this way the piece employs similar themes and metaphors to the best of early George Romero, and I recall telling Mr B at time of viewing that this is what Diary of the Dead should have been like, given both were tackling the same subject matter.
Originally aired as a mini series across 5 consecutive nights the whole piece will air as a bumper length movie tomorrow and is arguably one of the best you will see, certainly the best choice on free t.v stations. I envy new viewers who will see the piece uninterrupted in this way as I'm sure it will work.
The piece is intelligent, inspiring, witty, surprisingly thought provoking, sometimes challenging and in places jarring and shocking. Despite this there are also oodles of quotable lines and suitably iconic moments, the gore quotient is amply filled alongside some really sick gross out moments but the characters are well rounded (even when not supposed to be, weirdly, see the BB contestants). British viewers will get more from the recognisable nature of this apocalypse but it deserves a wider audience. I don't stick my neck out often but here I suspect everyone will get something from watching this, and I can't heap enough praise. You'll be entertained without being patronised, feel like you're being given a treat if you are a genre fan and/or aware of our cultural obession with fame and if nothing else you'll be scared and go along on a roller coaster zombie-fuelled thrill ride.

***** (5/5)

MM

Happy Halloween

2009-10-30T22:30:00.003Z

Just a special treat for those, like we at the site, who love both genres: horror and comedy (and if, like me, you get a kick out of seeing them collide).

"Alright it's inconsistent,... I'm not having a go at anyone, I'm having a pop at the undead."

:-)

MM

News - Brit Horror

2009-10-30T22:23:00.004Z

It's with a sense of pride and slightly wary dread that I read of yet another Brit attempt at doing a credible, pseudo-psychological tense horror flick. It will be called "Basement" according to Bloody Disgusting and Screen Daily and will, of course, star Danny Dyer. Says the news article:

"Danny Dyer, who starred in both Jake West's Doghouse and Chris Smith's Severance, will topline the psychological horror Basement for Pinewood Studios, reports Screen Daily. Shooting is already underway. Written and directed by first time feature film-maker Asham Kamboj, it tells the story of five people who inadvertently enter an underground base and run into a nightmare scenario. Other cast members include Kierston Wareing, Lois Winstone (Beyond the Rave), Emily Beecham (28 Weeks Later) and Jimi Mistry."

As I say I can't help but feel a swell of pride at the abundance of films of this genre particularly coming from my homeland recently. I haven't seen a lot of them but I thought Severance was deliciously subversive and quirky, I hear on the other side that Donkey Punch was terrible, at least according to Mr B. I'm curious to see Doghouse and a few others but haven't yet. Can anyone fill me in on what they're honestly like?

MM

Halloween part 2 - GhostWatch

2009-10-28T21:36:00.004Z

I had originaly planned to do a list of top ten t.v horrors (it may still happen at some point) but this would have been top, it was all inspired by and comes down to this small BBC1 show, aired one Halloween when I was younger. Billed crucially as a serious documentary, featuring all the names you would expect from that, not fiction, the sense of realistic dread has never been matched. Did anyone else see this? For those that did it remains in the memory, lodged like a nightmare made real, more effective than many horror films, all the more so because we believed it. In this way it was like a precursor to the likes of The Blair Witch Project. The sad fact is it would never be allowed to happen now, misleading the viewers in such a way. Still it worked fantastically and may have even scarred a generation a bit, in a good kind of way.
To those unfamiliar the show as it was had been billed as lasting a whole night, featuring a man in the studio (I remember Sarah Greene's husband and Michael Parkinson both doing this) linking to outside broadcasts of reporters, including Ms Greene (leading to a chillingly terrifying moment later as husband and wife were separated by a power loss), Craig Charles and others. These people were supposedly investigating "real" supernatural occurences and interviewing the families of supposed hauntings, filming things and collecting evidence. Nobody expected what came next, as I said it's worthy of a horror movie. We had a frightened group of children claiming that a ghost named "pipes" (even the name and thinking about it still makes me shudder) was haunting their house, causing weird noises and appearing at times. Nobody would have thought it serious at first but gradually we were sucked into this world of odd occurences, children's drawings of the ghostly creature, his back story and then, the piece de resistance, the outside link was cut off by an unseen, unknown force, Parkinson began acting strangely, Auntie had been taken over for one night only (though we didn't know that). I was too young to truly appreciate it at the time but looking back what a brave experiment and a great little narrative, if you haven't seen it think yourself lucky and try and hunt it out, maybe for this weekend.

**** (5/5)

Special mention to the other shows that would have featured including the seriously scary Childen of the Stones, great episodes of The X Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (you may snigger but Der kindestod and The Gentlemen are monsters who springs to mind here as genuinely disturbing) and various anthologies like Tales From The Crypt.

I would say more but there is a monstrous figure leaning over me, that's weird, no, wait, I was kidding, what's that? aaaggghhhhhhhhh!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I'm sorry, couldn't resist.

MM

Halloween's coming...

2009-10-28T21:07:00.005Z

The perfect holiday for this site is almost upon us and I just wanted to share my own recollections and odd rituals to do with this (admittedly Americanised) day. It only really started when I was a kid watching t.v specials but a few years ago things really stepped up and the importance became greater. I was working at a cinema to help get me through university. On that fateful night of October 31st the cinema was having a special "Halloween Horror Night" where they stayed open all night long (from 11pm to 5am) showing 4 movies. Customers could pay to take part, ideally in costume, but we staff could stay for free. The four films on offer I still remember clearly, they were:

Ring

The original Japanese version, thankfully up first. Made me realise how slow and foreboding it is, working in airs of menace and not as captivating nor over the top as most U.S horror including its remake but with a suitably iconic last moment that was awesome to experience at all, let alone in a crowd of like minded fans. It was also parodied by a girl in Sadako fancy dress crawling from the cinema screen. Fun times.

The Evil Dead

Sam Raimi's original low budget classic, held the attention admirably as I fought to stay awake. I still remember being jarringly awoken by the card-reading sequence and loving how creeped out and messed up it was. Also reminded me that whilst it's often overlooked in favour of its sequel this is an excellent movie, a wild, fast ride with scares, shocks, gross moments and freaky atmosphere all in spades.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

I'd be lying if I said I was awake during this, due to a combination of the mid-morning time and the fact I'd seen it in class a couple of months previously. My opinion is well documented elsewhere on the sight (good, solid movie if not a five star classic) but I will say that the annoying last half hour is the best and worst thing to happen to a sleeping cinema patron wanting to be alert for the next movie. Like the worlds most irritating alarm clock.

Friday The 13th

The very first in the now looong running franchise, surprisingly tame and very steeped in a time and cultural place but holds the viewer well enough, with a few surprises, some oddly quaint horror moments and the best last minute scare of the night.

I slept in the staff room the morning after these movies finished and always remembered it as a great time, we all dressed up (I bought a Scream costume for it which I still have) and ever since then I have tried to keep up that tradition of watching a Halloween Horror Night, usually involving two or more movies on DVD and possibly Halloween specials of t.v shows (Buffy being a mainstay in recent years). Yes, even for a guy who doesn't label himself as a huge horror afficionado, this time of year changes all that, brings out my love of the darker side and I will be doing the whole ritual again this Saturday, probably with similarly toned movies as that first night, like always. Stay tuned to hear how it went and what makes the cut and enjoy your own horror themed fun this weekend...

BOO!!!

MM

Who's afraid?

2009-10-27T20:36:00.004Z

Hey guys. I know I have been following this before but thought you might like to check out the latest trailer for Joe Johnston's Wolfman remake.

Loving the old school look and feel of the piece, a potentially great homage to the original universal monster classics that has a lot of people excited. The acting for the most part looks excellent even if Hopkins veers dangerously close to cheesy and his old Van Helsing schtick. The special effects even look fine, despite the usual complaints. I'll certainly try and catch this next year...

Oh, and for the record Mr B Shaun of the Dead is an underappreciated gem... and dogs CAN look up.

MM

Top Ten End Of The World Films...

2009-10-26T22:00:00.000Z

Check out this list over at Bloody Disgusting of the top ten end of the world films. What do you make of it? I'm still not convinced that Shaun of the Dead really is that great. In fact, I'd rather watch Zombieland again. Maybe brits love 'American things' more?

N.B. That last comment was one for the Alan Partridge fans out there...

Zombieland - Some Thoughts

2009-10-26T13:16:00.003Z

Really - if you haven't seen this yet then you really should. I rarely start reviews or rather commentary in such a way, but Zombieland is the exception that proves the rule that I should do so more often and give a direct suggestion.

Spoiler alert!
The world has become a titular Zombieland, leaving poor Jesse Eisenberg confused, worried and full of not a little bit of angst. He sets out to see his parents and smashes a few zombie faces on the way, before bumping into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Witchita and Little Rock (the two females of the group). They fight zombies, have adventures and bump into one of the greatest (and weirdest) cameo roles of all time. As I've said spoiler alert, you won't mind me saying that the sequence with Bill Murray is worth the price of admission alone - especially his rather nasty fate!

Moving on from spoiler territory, the greatest asset of the film is the tone. It's wonderful, simply put. Drama, comedy, action, you name it, it's all in there. The scripting is tight and the elements of the film blend wonderfully well together, making it seem like a great mix of The Wonder Years (Jesse Eisenberg's voiceover), Dawn of the Dead and Superbad (gross out comedy moments).

Zombieland is a movie that, taking each element separately, is merely average. However, thanks to various elements being blended so well, it really goes work. The characters are on the whole likeable though kudos has to go to Woody Harrelson for his turn as Tallahasee. If you were trapped in Z(ee)land, you'd want him by your side. A badass and man who knows how to have fun - although he does suffer from a candy obsession in the form of Twinkies.

Ultimately, don't expect Zombieland to tax your brain cells - but do expect it to provide some wonderful entertainment that gives many nods to the genre and provides a whole lot of laughs.

**** 4/5

Saw 5 - Review

2009-10-21T22:10:00.004+01:00

Hi guys. If you read my previous posting you'll know that I promised this and part of the reasons behind it anyway but I wanted to add that this is here because I just finished watching the DVD. Yes I did buy it in part due to the hype surrounding the sixth installment's recent release but not for the blog alone, it's just the sort of thing I do anyway. I'm a sucker for hype but I quite enjoy that part of film fandom. I am hoping that will gain the piece some extra relevance though.

SPOILER COUNTRY - YOU KNOW THE DRILL!!!

In a nutshell this movie naturally picks up where the previous one left off. (find my review of that elsewhere on the blog). Detective Hoffman has picked up the torch of previous protagonist Jigsaw. With no loose end present one is presented as the FBI agent from the previous movie, Peter Strahm, is seen as supposed to die in the mass house death orgy that made up Saw 3, 4 and now the start of 5 but he survives in quite a clever way and with John Kramer dead sets out to find the new man responsible, putting Hoffman's secret in jeopardy. Along the way we see in flashback how he and Jigsaw met and, unknowing to us in the audience, the ways in which Hoffman was present at the events from all 3 films (conveniently with both other villains foolishly killed off). This is done surprisingly well despite being necessary but more on that later. Concurrently with the investigation and attempts by Hoffman to cover his tracks by framing his pursuer we follow a Saw 2 style set up of 5 victims (get it?) in a series of rooms set as traps as they attempt to survive grisly fates, and learn a valuable life lesson about morality. No sarcasm intended, you do get that in a non-overt or ironic way. Now to the review...

We open as ever with a traditional straight-into-the-action trap. Like the previous movies this is the best one here and starts us off well, done excellently, presented well practically and with a later story purpose that justifies even the biggest annoyance that it was not "winnable", since this is, as we learn, Hoffman and not Jigsaw responsible, killing the man who murdered his sister and framing Jigsaw, much to his initial annoyance and setting up their partnership and to a degree all the previous films, or aspects of them. This playing with time and never hall marking where we are in all films' narrative is done better here than before, still bold but with more help than before for the clued in and up to date. This also brings up the best ideas from previous Saw's about the nature of Jigsaw's twisted morality and why these things are happening to people. This along with many other parts of the movie show a major shift away from gratuitous gore and so called "torture porn" to a half way decent story which kept this viewer intrigued and hooked. It is also more comprehensible than the previous attempt at this and easier to follow as a result. That said anyone with no knowledge of previous events would presumably still be very lost. It also brings me to one of my annoyances. I am angered by the idea, presented by ignorant and hack media types mainly, that these films, especially the continuous sequels, are just lowest-common-denominator set pieces and mass market fodder, there is way too much going on, here at least, and credit is due for that. This part of the plot takes in some frustratingly unexplained plot threads regarding Jigsaw's estranged wife but one assumes that is hedging bets for inevitable future revelations. The rest of the linked men's histories reminded me of the Scream 3 description of the last part of a trilogy, we do go back to the beginning and discover something we thought we knew which is shown differently, explaining things in this case, allowing us a whistle stop tour of the first few films which leaves fans feeling rewarded and tying things up surprisingly effectively, never feeling forced. The ending too is one of the better attempts at shocking us as we deeply empathise and encourage the newest victim, Strahm, to do as he is told and learn the rules, as justice is once again perverted and we end on an unfortunately jarringly gruesome scene but brave plot climax as the bad guy wins again, even covering up his deeds as they are blamed on the victim.

The other main plot is also surprisingly decent. We learn as we go the crime these 5 people have commited which made them a target for Jigsaw (though seriously he's dead, that's enough with the "oh but do just set up these last bad people" stuff). Their amoral actions led them to be targets but whats interesting is how clued up the film lets them be, and cleverer, since the audience would presumably be more savvy by now too as we follow along. This part shocks a couple of times by doing the unexpected, first killing off the groups seeming leader then again seeing the less moral-seeming guy saved as the helpless female character is persecuted and killed. The big twist is really cool as we learn that these 5 thought they had to be sacrificed one by one but actually should have worked together, this seems to earn the last, truly awful and grisly, trap a lot more as they have to allow their arms to be carved up to spill enough blood to open their final doorway to freedom. Ordinarily this would seem OTT, especially in lieu of the more reserved tone of the rest of the film but the plot makes it have more of a point, as it does with these people's presence, though like before they seem to serve no point to the continuous narrative being displayed and are just here to give us some main focus for this one film, not brilliantly woven in but still good enough as Jigsaw fodder generally. Another gripe, held over from previous reviews is how the traps again, like many of the franchise's traps, seem to have no basis in actual medical reality and are not nearly as survivable you're left feeling which can take you out of the narrative a tad.

The writing here seems vastly improved however, perhaps the best plotting since the first film or two and better than the last 2. The direction too is noticeably accomplished. Whilst constrained by the hyperactive flashes and cuts which have become the Saw hallmark there are a surprising couple of flourishes playing with time changes within the scene by cutting using a pendulum and other objects passing by camera. All in all a very enjoyable night in, less gratuitous and gross than the more inferior efforts, a great plot not too difficult to follow, some fan pleasing stuff without seeming overtly winking at the audience, great ways to still keep Jigsaw involved, which I was worried wouldn't work (and fear won't next time) but was well presented here. Solid, does what it sets out to and I can't find too much to fault and a fair bit to praise, though maybe that's relief after the dropping quality of the previous two films or a good mood, or just good old personal preference. I can't promise everyone will get the same as me out of this but similar viewers and fans will. Whatever, my final score is in...

**** (4/5)

MM

The Dead Zone - On Five USA Right Now!

2009-10-17T21:08:00.002+01:00

Some Stephen King adaptations are an absolute pile - they become some sort of weird, convoluted mess that does no merit to either the film or the book. The Dead Zone however is a classic - made all the better by a star turn by none other than Christopher Walken.

Thoughts naturally to follow, as well as those concerning a certain Zombieland, which I was fortunate enough to watch this evening at the cinema.

One Hundredth Post!!!

2009-10-12T19:01:00.025+01:00

Wow. It's crazy to think already how this blog has influenced my life. Now seems a good time to take stock, and point out that because of this and my friendship with Mr B I have watched so many odd and varied horror films over the last 4 months. Do check out the reviews. Likewise because of it I have bought DVD's recently of Saw 5, the original A Nightmare on Elm Street and Ju-On: The Grudge 2 which I hope to watch and review over the coming weeks (or knowing me, months). Also the horror holiday of Halloween is coming up so I will probably end up doing some variation on the usual horror movie marathon (more on that at a later date). Similarly I'm pretty psyched for the DVD release of the film Drag Me To Hell, which I have on pre-order. I would like to thank everyone who is visiting the site, Mr B and I know you're out there and whilst he wishes to remain somewhat anonymous I offer heartfelt congrats on the milestone to him from me too, anyone else wishing to get in touch can find me on Facebook here, Twitter here or here. Do get in touch with thoughts, opinions, comments or anything regarding the horror genre. Finally to celebrate this landmark number, because everyone loves lists and because it feels like I'm occassionally too negative here are the films I do genuinely love, my considered and much mulled over personal top ten horror films of all time, in reverse order:

10. The Evil Dead

9. Night of The Living Dead (1968)

8. The Shining

7. Carrie

6. Profondo Rosso (Deep Red)

5. Psycho

4. Scream

3. Aliens

2. Ju-On: The Grudge

1. Halloween (1978)

I fully expect controversy for what wasn't included, rather than what was. For the record just missing out on making the grade were such diverse films as The Birds, Scream 2, American Psycho, and the original Texas Chain-Saw Massacre. Likewise some of the films mentioned above might have made it in had they been fresher in my mind or after a considered re-watch (particularly Nightmare). I now throw down the gauntlet to Mr B to share his list, undoubtedly very different, to compare tastes and because it's a great way to judge a person's area of fondness for the genre. Look forward to seeing it and you over the next hundred...

Event Horizon - Discussion

2009-10-11T22:52:00.004+01:00

Coming at Event Horizon from a slightly different angle than MM's post, I'd like to tell you all first off that I'm a fan of the piece. As correctly highlighted, Alien showed that sci fi and horror could mix (and for my money, not just that but that sci fi could actually be interesting and offer something beyond a guy with a Mars bar stuck to his forehead being angry).

Overrated or not, it set out the stall for what we were to see in the future, and the impact of the film can still be seen today with the likes of Outlander (what a bizzare mix of genres that is!).

Anyway, coming back to the film in question, Event Horizon actually poses an interesting question. Were we to somehow develop technology that could bend space, exactly where would we end up? There are allusions to hell in the film, as well as 'chaos', which I think is probably a more apt description of where the Event Horizion (the titular spacecraft) has been and gone using a fancy new drive. A rescue ship that includes the original designer finds the ship after a determinate time (was it 4 or 7 years), to find all the crew dead or gone. Then, the strangeness breaks out.

At this point, I'd like to explore some of the points made in the previous post by Marvel Man as a way to discuss some of the plotting and storyline, which in my opinion is far better than given credit for thus far on the blog:

"It seems a touch slow for the horror side of things but sadly one suspects the filmmakers knew that" - the film was sold as a sci fi with horror elements - the sequence involving Weir at the beginning I thought was actually excellent at setting the tone, mood and introduction of the horror to come. Incidental stuff played a big part in this too (the music etc).

"William Weir is somehow receiving messages which could either be from his dead ex-partner or the ship he helped create. This psychic relationship and these more unusual aspects are not explored or expained at all." - this is explained - but only to a fashion. Weir is the creator of the drive and is implicated in the building of the whole of the Event Horizon. The ship has some sort of entity/intelligence on board and, much like the superior Solaris, this entity makes contact psychically. The ship and the lifeform/intelligence was intent on using Weir to survive, which explains his actions as seen by insane by everyone else on board. Weir would never destroy the ship as he's being manipulated by (the vision of) his dead wife.

"The great idea, touched upon then dropped, that there is no hell as such, everyone is merely seeing the darkness inherent in themselves and being tortured by bad acts and events from their past is so intriguing." - again, not the case. Hell (or chaos, as it's actually described twice in the dialogue) is where the ship has been. However, the intelligence that has returned with this ship has power to show the fears/act on the darkness within, or as stated the events from their past. Of course they're not only seeing, the force can persumably also bring to life these memories/characters, as the Captain (Fishburne's character) feels the heat from the fire.

"but to then feel the need to clarify it with gubbins about actually entering another dimension of chaos where the ship came to life (and don't get me started on how that makes no sense)." - as above, the intelligence belongs to the dimension, they "brought something back" - it's not the dimension itself. They are two different things.

"The ending gets progressively worse until we even end up with a hackneyed villain version of Weir, never explained or given any motivation, simply appearing, looking all scarred and cut just because it looks awesomely horrific and even somehow shape shifting, gaining a Lazarus complex and now haunting Joely Richardson (maybe having gained this transfered psychic ability from before." - I agree with the first part, in that the possessed Weir is a little odd. He has no eyes, seemingly superhuman strength and yet makes some incredibly stupid mistakes that see him being finished off. The final scare with Richardson was completely unnecessary though, but I read it as a nightmare - nothing more. In the same way that Ripley has a nightmare in Aliens.

"In conclusion a decent sci-fi, terrible horror that smothered a great concept for exploration of evil, human fears, psychosis or the unimaginable horrors of our cultural collective unconscious. But dude come on, it had exploding heads and people with no eyes and scenes that were just awesome. Personally this viewer would have preferred more awesome respect for his intelligence and fear tolerance and a decent plot, basic as it may seem, with a touch of coherency. And please stop clubbing me over the head with your ideas of freaky/scary/hellish; blood, bodies, scars and lacerations, exploding people, flame-consumed villains, it has all been done before. And better. Throwing them at me quickly and loudly is not big or clever and frankly I feel a little sick." - Re the first point of this final section - the true horror here was the vastness, the unknown of space and what could potentially lie out there in wait, beyond space and time. It's almost Lovecraftian and so is very worthy. Actually, the 'gore' I found to be quite watered down, especially in the tv edit. Clive Barker's Hellraiser it was not. W S Anderson is fond of the quick cutaway shots, so very rarely did we actually see anything that might raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Disappointing from a horror perspective.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed Event Horizon, though for different reasons I do agree with Marvel Man that the potential was there for something greater than it was. Nonetheless, a good addition the sci fi/horror subgenre and a worthy watch for all and sundry *** 3/5.

Event Horizon - Personal Review

2009-10-11T21:22:00.009+01:00

And that's an important qualifier up there. I wish to stress that this is not a definitive view of fact, but one fan's opinion. I welcome disagreement, and I realise this film has a cult-ish following, the reasons for which I plan to explore a little. So keep an open and calm mind and it should go without saying that SPOILERS will be involved.
Back in the sixties the starship USS Enterprise launched. Zipping through the universe at impossible faster than light speeds in a shiny, uber-advanced vessel with a diverse, completely harmonious crew it was a vision of the sci-fi future as we dreamed it could be: near perfect. A decade later the rag-tag group of miners and very human crew of the space vessel Nostromo lived and worked in a much more realistic, closer to life spaceship. THis was our world as it is now transposed onto the future, and what's more into this slice of sci-fi as possible realistic future came a monster: and with it the horror genre itself meshing perfectly. It's not a stretch to say that Paul Anderson and the makers of Event Horizon were probably inspired by Ridley Scott's masterwork. Now the controversy, I think that earlier film may be slightly, very marginally (whisper it)... over-rated. Can you live with that? If not then it might be time to opt out of this particular post.
Alien is, however, a good film. I recognise that, I see it's impact and feel like it's just a bit subtle for me personally. I do, however, plan to re-watch and re-evaluate, and it is still my second favourite of that franchise. The best parts, as mentioned above, have been transposed onto our earliest moments here. The sci-fi actually seems somewhat realistic, and cooler for it. The plot line paying respect to the idea that frankly even travelling in our solar system would ba a taxing, arduous task. The stated point that you should not be able to break the law of relativity is so cool, and surprisingly intelligent, as is the way around it. As a sci-fi movie the start of this film thus works, it sucks you into this world of the not massively distant future, clearly establishes where we are and what we can and can't do and doesn't dwell too long on it. It seems a touch slow for the horror side of things but sadly one suspects the filmmakers knew that. Unfortunately this leads to a never explained idea which, as far as I can tell, suggests that Sam Neill's Dr William Weir is somehow receiving messages which could either be from his dead ex-partner or the ship he helped create. This psychic relationship and these more unusual aspects are not explored or expained at all. I know they come up later but only when we are on the ship, and they are constantly only used as an excuse to give us SCARY QUICK IMAGES AND SHOCK MOMENTS that seem designed to get the teenage boy "awesome, cool" demographic on side by going "sci-fi, spaceships, boring stuff, character beat, cool warp drive, HEAD FUCK!!!". Sigh.
This was my primary problem with the film, it seemed in what could be construed of a plot that we were supposed to be getting a depiction of hell (or something like it), and true horrors to freeze the soul. If that is so then it's unfortunate and a bit twisted that it's all played so "woah! cool" and almost emphasises the fun of the craziness of evil. I know hell itself is not something we could ever argue is presented well or otherwise, having never experienced it, but these scenes have all the subtletly and menace of a rock music video. The closest comparison I coul conceive would be trying to understand the nature of violence in our species by watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
The sad fact is there are things here which could have been played for a great plot, and an excellent horror aspect to the piece. The great idea, touched upon then dropped, that there is no hell as such, everyone is merely seeing the darkness inherent in themselves and being tortured by bad acts and events from their past is so intriguing. This provides some excellent Solaris-esque exploration and a couple of brilliant scenes, some top notch acting and character motivation (for example Captain Miller is a hard ass because he watched one person die horribly under his command and silently vowed to lose no-one else, good stuff which in a subtle, unspoken way adds so much gravitas to the later scene as he struggles to save Justin and the others).
The horrors themselves are unfortunately dragged down to hokey cliche. This is a depiction of a possible hell so naturally we get flames, rivers of blood, mutilations, ... yawn. Far more impressive is the scene where Weir is forced to watch the lover he abandoned slit her wrists and die again, as she did one before because he wasn't there. That is hell, and if we all make our own perhaps psychologically our characters could be presented as living in theirs. Play that up more.
Sadly this is dropped in favour of fudged, unexplained and inconsistent possession of Weir, the ridiculous and stupid extreme deaths and visions of the cliches mentioned above and even some ridiculous back tracking from the central idea. It would be fine to say that the gateway breached the walls of hell, and quite simple, but to then feel the need to clarify it with gubbins about actually entering another dimension of chaos where the ship came to life (and don't get me started on how that makes no sense). Sure it could still be hell but why the sci-fi possibility, surely any viewer would have to be comfortable with the horror moments.
The ending gets progressively worse until we even end up with a hackneyed villain version of Weir, never explained or given any motivation, simply appearing, looking all scarred and cut just because it looks awesomely horrific and even somehow shape shifting, gaining a Lazarus complex and now haunting Joely Richardson (maybe having gained this transfered psychic ability from before. It's not important how, it just gives us a great telegraphed jump scare to end on).
There is a good movie here, buried deep by the layers of dirt. The twisted and deranged may enjoy the evil-as-fun elements, worryingly. The infantile or those who enjoy disengaging the brain may get a kick from some of the obvious moments of strobe-riddled, quick cut "awesome, it looks gross/freaky/intense" stuff. One can even see the aeteur elements of the director begin to emerge, bad as they may be utilised in later films such as Resident Evil (still better than this by the way. I know: controversial). I can understand the whole "Steak every day gets boring, have a hamburger" mentality and those who watch for the ride and the ability to watch intense imagery with brain firmly disengaged are not wrong, I just cannot condone it when there are so many good plots and films still unseen.
In conclusion a decent sci-fi, terrible horror that smothered a great concept for exploration of evil, human fears, psychosis or the unimaginable horrors of our cultural collective unconscious. But dude come on, it had exploding heads and people with no eyes and scenes that were just awesome. Personally this viewer would have preferred more awesome respect for his intelligence and fear tolerance and a decent plot, basic as it may seem, with a touch of coherency. And please stop clubbing me over the head with your ideas of freaky/scary/hellish; blood, bodies, scars and lacerations, exploding people, flame-consumed villains, it has all been done before. And better. Throwing them at me quickly and loudly is not big or clever and frankly I feel a little sick.

* (1/5)

MM

Event Horizon - On Tonight!

2009-10-10T18:42:00.002+01:00

Unless I end up at the pub (a possibility given it's a Saturday) rather later than planned, I'll be checking out Event Horizon (again) tonight. It's a classic sci-fi horror mix and one of the few decent titles by a certain Paul W S Anderson...

Predators - Casting News

2009-10-09T21:25:00.003+01:00

Regular readers around here will know that I've been following this film for a while with great ineterest. The meshing of sensibilities of those involved with product and the promise of geekdom and a close match to Aliens has got a few people's attention. Well now we hear that Oscar winner Adrien Brody has sought out and fought for the part of the lead (and head of the films main team of marines-alikes). Joining him and the already announced Danny Trejo will be Alice Braga (me neither), Oleg Taktarov (a body builder apparently), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (thank you copy/paste!), Louiz Ozawa and t.v star Walt Goggins. Interesting, not sure how they'll gel as a team but I'm hopeful. Bloody-Disgusting also report that Derek "Jason Voorhees" Mears could be on board but in what capacity remains unknown. And The Hollywood Reporter says Topher "Venom" Grace is in negotiations. Much thanks must go to AICN who broke this story and the other sources mentioned for clarifications.

The Exorcist 3 - Extremely Belated Review

2009-10-09T20:53:00.006+01:00

Apologies all but Mr B and i actually watched this at my place almost 2 weeks ago I think, illness, work, and other life complications have eaten my time but indulge me if you will as I randomly attempt to splurge some coherent thoughts about this, a film which regular readers will know Mr B loves, and initiated a quest for amongst me and my family.
The picture opens frankly slowly, there are some good but cliched pieces of visual creepy imagery, usually harking back to the stair tumble from the first Exorcist film (our first hint of how important that will be and one of very few early references to the earlier picture). Slight visual clues and tricks appear which are a bit confusing and jarring (at least for me), an atmosphere is created but non-fans or those slow on the filmic uptake may find it a tad frustrating. More criminal still is the lack of any real horror. Sure there are murders but at least two occur off screen and more is implied than shown, a shame for me but I know this is part of the charm for my esteemed colleague and I can see how that might be so even though I don't agree and was less forgiving of this.
As things progress we end up almost in a straight police procedural for a while. Maybe it's necessary exposition, perhaps it's giving the actors some meaty stuff to play against outside a genre that may be seen as less worthy, whatever the case I found this to be the weakest part of the movie. Again though by comparison my viewing buddy was loving the set up and mood and even noticing things like little subtle shapes in the shadows and other eerie moments which were lost on me (I'm still not convinced these were intentional, at least in the one example he pointed out to me).
Eventually we end up in the cell of the man claiming to be the Gemini killer (who was killed via execution years ago around the end of Regan's possession ordeal) but who looks, to our protagonist, exactly like The Exorcist's Father Damian Karras. This is where the film earns its status for me (and a visibly awed and transfixed Mr B). This first scene in that cell has since become one of my favourite in the genre, we have detailed horror dialogue and descriptions, excellent creepy dialogue and even two actors playing the same part which really shouldn't work but it's amazing how well it does and how completely captivated we are by the performances that we go with it. The two actors playing this unfortunate character deserve much kudos, (including reliable genre veteran and legend Brad Dourif) as well as our lead.
As the plot goes much deeper into horror territory things vastly improve. We get a brilliantly realised, visually stylish surreal dream scene. There is much exploration of past events and lots is tied up. When we get to the obvious ending (the green-faced possession) which should seem trite and forced the imagery and depictions become truly memorable, disturbing and jarring but completely original, if horrific in the best, most thoughtful way. The final depiction of hell is one of the most powerful film images and will stay with you for a while.
Overall a really slow burner which only kicks off half way through then gets excellent just as it finishes but with some great plotting (if over complicated), a few brilliant moments (look out for a crazy old lady ceiling walk), three top notch actors and one of the best endings I've seen in a while, I still can't see why Mr B raves QUITE so much about it as it's a little too plodding and does have flaws but still a very good, surprisingly original and hard working sequel.

*** (3/5)

MM

Is Horror A Dirty Word?

2009-10-02T18:20:00.001+01:00

As a genre fan, you're thinking 'just what the hell is this article all about?'. Well, in fact, I'd like you to go read a Fearful Feature at Fangoria. It just might make you think a little more about your favourite genre!

Horror Based On Real Life - Films

2009-10-02T17:54:00.001+01:00

You may like to read the list at King Mag about horror films based on 'actual' events. The stories are a little tongue in cheek but nonetheless the article is worth a read. Younger readers shouldn't click the link - e.g. if you're old enough to buy Zoo or Nuts you're probably fine, otherwise you shouldn't be on this site either!

The Exorcist III - Some quick thoughts

2009-10-02T17:17:00.003+01:00

I am now the proud owner of the 3 film set of The Exorcist, The Exorcist 2 and The Exorcist 3. This is in no small part down to the genius of MM's father, who managed to find said object of horror (pun intended) on a ghoulishly good auction site (am I on fire or what?!).

Naturally we've mentioned The Exorcist round these parts already, and I may have touched on the bizzare and unintelligible sequel. However, the third film brings the goods once again, with no less than a nicely OTT performance from genre vet Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer.

Spoiler Alert!
A quick recap for those of you who want it/want to spoil the film if you haven't seen it already: a spate of murders was brought to an end when the Gemini Killer was caught and executed. However, the killer looks to have returned - which creates a mystery of just how this is possible. Eventually, the cop on the case (a brilliantly acted George C Scott) realises that more than simply a case of copycat killing is taking place, leading him to suspect that an asylum lunatic is somehow responsible for the murders, despite his incarceration.

The greatness of The Exorcist 3 is in how subtle the whole damn film is. It helps to have seen both films previous to it before sitting down to watch, as references are made to time frames and it'll piece together more clearly for you. Almost a murder mystery, it'll have you guessing quite early on just who is responsible for the murders, before exposing you to a shocking revelation that provides some truly unnerving imagery leading up to the brilliant climatic battle of good versus evil.

One thing that Marvel Man did mention was how engrossed I appeared to be during a number of key sequences in the film. I really enjoyed The Exorcist 3 on that particular viewing, despite having to spell out the sequences to Marvel Man who isn't as familiar as I with the plot/background story. If truth be told, there's something to be said for atmosphere - especially of the tense, nerve creating kind - and The Exorcist 3 is filled with moments that'll have you wondering not only what the hell is going on but just about whether you'll be able to get any sleep at all during the night.

As a film that hasn't seen too many bad sequels, despite casting an incredibly large shadow, The Exorcist and The Exorcist 3 should be must haves for any genuine horror fan who prefers their scares more metaphorical than literal - after all, battles for the very nature of humanity and the soul don't come much more metaphysical...

One, two, Freddy's coming for you...

2009-09-28T17:30:00.008+01:00

And now to the huge news of the day (for me anyway). The first trailer has appeared for the much talked about re-do of A Nightmare on Elm Street, and you can watch it in all it's glory below, if you are so inclined...

I know I'm a sucker but this looks awesome. Iconography and creepy moments from the known classic, mental new pace and cool new moments, a great actor in the legendary role. The one let down is the abysmal looking make up. Still though this filled me with giddy glee, roll on next year.

MM

Big News Day

2009-09-28T17:20:00.003+01:00

Hi all.
A few tidbits have emerged today that I felt I might share with you in bullet point, breaking news format:

- Danny Trejo has officially announced his involvement (unsurprisingly) in the Nimrod Antal directed, Robert Rodriguez produced Predators

- Interested in reading reviews from several known and unknown horror (and the recent Fantastic Fest). Scope 'em here.

- Romero could be back on form (at last!) as Survival of the Dead garners some praise.

Be back soon...

MM

Rec 2: First Review

2009-09-28T17:12:00.003+01:00

Hey gang.
A glut of reviews have started emerging for upcoming and newly or recently released horrors. Whilst I'm not planning on sharing them all (check the usual sites if you are interested though) I wanted to link to a review by Massawyrm on AICN. Mainly because I'm super hyped for this film, even more so now. The piece is what I would call spoiler-free as it gives no specifics or detail but you may wish to avoid it if you do want to come to this film with absolutely untainted, fresh eyes. If not, and I do recommend this, check it out here.

MM

The Blair Witch Project - An Alternative Opinion

2009-09-22T22:06:00.007+01:00

Has it really been 10 years since The Blair Witch Project? Seems scary doesn't it? Scarier than anything presented in the film itself. First up let me say that I do not disagree with Mr Butterscotch per se, nor is this piece intended as any kind of rebuttal of his previous post, argument against it or anything like that, merely a different opinion from a different horror fan. Whilst I try and be subjective in my reviews this one will be more about what it means to me as I truly believe it's one of those "Marmite" films which will leave you feeling like either Mr B or myself do. If you haven't seen the film both are legitimate views, but I can't promise which side of the fence you'll be on.
Let me also say that I think The Blair Witch Project is less an example of a great film, more a great marketing campaign. In this respect I'm reminded of The Exorcist, though that at least has a truly disturbing plot idea, great visual effects work, stand-out disgusting and shocking moments and is justifiably iconic (like that one shot in The Blair Witch Project which is shown above). It's this idea that was sold, of the film not being a film at all, which is admittedly ingenious and frustrating to a film geek, but gives the piece it's atmosphere and to an extent as a modern day filmic version of those old ghost stories told around the campfire it's quite good. I'll admit I got suckered in by this and on first watching the film I was too scared to watch past about an hour, expecting that the hype must meant something truly disturbing would hapen or be seen. Imagine my disappointment when I finished the film and just found it boring. I'm not usually one for extreme horror, don't get me wrong, but on rewwatches, divorced from cultural context, this is a poor effort. I commend the film for it's marketing, mostly the reason for it's success I feel, and for pioneering it's shooting style and new sub-genre, as Mr B touched upon. The problem is, divorcing it from this you are left with a piece where directions are already set, with no room for flair, acting that's abysmal except when it's natural and a good tale attempting to hold it all together, and coming off somewhat flimsy.
The ending is genius, like most of the writing itself, with a truly great visual image, but not if you are expecting terror to make you scream. Effective chills, a good little ghost story and a trend setter but unforgivably dull for a horror movie, definitely worth catching for its effect and cultural context but not one you'll necessarily rave too much about. I can never forgive it also for unleashing the truly, indescribably dreadful sequel Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows on the world. Now that one really isn't worth your time. As for the original, for me...

** (2/5)

MM

Something to cheer us all up.

2009-09-20T21:44:00.004+01:00

Hello again.
Saw this on the BBC's Mock The Week last Thursday and it made me think of the blog. Well on the back of recent events, the b**tards grinding down, the state of the country and the problems that dog us I decided to go ahead and post it, we all need a laugh sometimes and I think fans will get a bit of a kick out of it. I know I did, thus recinfirming that I must be something of a horror fan boy after all. I will warn that the material is somewhat sensitive from the outset and may offend, the piece contains some strong language and is copyright the BBC. That said I hope you all enjoy and it brightens your day that little bit,

Love the whole thing but my personal fave has got to be the "Freddy's satnav" gag...

MM

Harper's Island Wrap-up.

2009-09-20T21:23:00.003+01:00

Hi again to the few I'm reliably informed are visiting the site. Well it wasn't unexpected and yes I have finally decided to admit defeat and will not be watching the remaining episodes of Harper's Island. A lot of stuff happens in a life that makes you take stock but in this case basically the thought of slogging on, having given 4 episodes a try, simply depressed me, especially when I thought of the other and better things I haven't done or could be doing. I did actually cave in and read spoilers courtesy of the wikipedia page link I submitted in my preview piece. They merely confirmed what I had already discovered, the show is a soap opera with minor horror trappings. It seems like it might be attempting to be a tv version of Scream with it's slasher and whodunnit elements but clearly this format could not sustain a tv show's length. As such the thing became less horror the more it went along, despite introducing cliches like the psychic little girl and the resurrected villain. In short if you are still enjoying it fair play, I really wanted to as it seemed so brave, but ultimately wasn't what I'd hoped. An intriguing experiment but a failure. Like so much horror tv.

MM

Universal Studios - Halloween Horror Nights

2009-09-20T18:13:00.001+01:00

Check out these great horror shorts and vote for your favourites, from the Scary Good film competition.

The Blair Witch Project - A Retrospective

2009-09-20T14:22:00.002+01:00

I'm sure if you're here then you've seen The Blair Witch Project. If not, then this retrospective might give you information enough to help you decide you need to see it. And, as a horror fan, I do insist this is need and not want.

The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, but prior to being screened a documentary was shown on the Sci-Fi channel (Curse of the Blair Witch), that sold the film as being completely real, true and factual. The legend was thus created for this documentary-style horror film (which is of course completely fictional).

The concept story behind the movie is that some tape reels were found - effectively the film - that show the disappearance of three teens who were making a film on a local legend, the eponymous 'Blair Witch'.

The film starts off with the kids mouching around, talking to locals, planning their trip into the Pine Barrens etc. Then, they go... And all manner of high strangeness starts taking place before one of the most iconic, terrifying finale sequences of any film.

It's been noted by many critics that there are a few reasons why the film is so successful in creating a high tension atmosphere:
1) It's filmed as if it's really happening directly in front of you
2) The DV-style handheld footage adds to the intimate feel, likewise the frequence pieces directly to the camera
3) The way in which the three leads gradually lose all sense of human spirit as their fear increases steadily
4) There's a definite play on the idea that things are 'out there' in the wild - unknown, unknowable things

There's no doubt that The Blair Witch project is not for everybody. You really do have to invest heavily, unlike perhaps a lot of 'popcorn' films when you can just sit there and let it wash over you. Take the time and emotional investment though and you'll receive great rewards in the form of a film that is really unlike anything else.

Everything from [REC] to Cloverfield and the upcoming Paranormal Activity (I'm sure this will be bloody brilliant!) owe a big debt to The Blair Witch Project and I can say that I'm a big fan.

**** 4/5

Paranormal Activity - Trailer

2009-09-20T14:15:00.002+01:00

This is one scary movie that I'm really, really looking forward to. Paranormal Activity looks like a cross between The Blair Witch project (it's low budget and uses a lot of handheld cams) and Poltergeist. Suffice to say, I really enjoyed both films so I'm looking forward to the high terror that is glimpsed in the trailer of Paranormal Activity.

Interestingly, I was once told a story of a very similar paranormal problem - a friend of mine had a friend who thought his house was haunted. Only, it was him that was being haunted, not the house...

Harper's Island Eps 3 and 4 - Review

2009-09-16T21:32:00.008+01:00

A couple of warnings firstly BEWARE OF SPOILERS again, obviously. Secondly these reviews will be getting briefer and maybe ending as the show is really struggling to keep me watching, or caring.

Ep 3 is the reason for this. The whole thing was so tedious and like a bad "Days of Our Lives" type soap (right down to even the killing by measly shotgun) that I couldn't really focus. I'm sure there were elements of "who slept with whom", "who loves their ex", "who is missing the love of their life" which seem important but honestly at this point just tell me the killer and then go play out your vacuous plot lives like you're remaking bleedin' Dynasty, STOP calling yourself or advertising yourself as horror. It's hard to be more specific as that was really all there was to see, consequently I did everything from wash the dishes to play with my phone to avoid watching. I seriously thought of turning the t.v off, but didn't. Still one of the worst episodes of t.v I've forced myself to endure though.

(0/5)

By Ep 4 I was ready to give up, seeing how the show was a failure in the U.S. I remembered reading that the eps are titled after the methods of death so I looked on the programme guide to make sure there was something to see. This ep was entitled "Bang". Irony is alive and well, but I guess a gun doesn't make a feeble farting sound, which would have summed it up better. Still no horror to really speak of outside of that you'd find in extreme daytime soap or drama, even the deaths have become lame. The whole thing was a slight improvement due to the reappearance of Jimmy and his connection to Abby and a whole "Shallow Grave" style plot which is a slight improvement on the who's shagging who stuff. This part also gets points for introducing a supernatural element which, on the back of what has come so far, seems like the most shocking and brave move,... but probably isn't. Could have gained more credence for shocking us by killing off a main player in the tiresome soap at the end, but bottled it. I'm off to go look up the killer online I reckon so I don't have to force myself through 9 more eps of this.

** (2/5)

MM

Saw 4 - Review

2009-09-16T21:02:00.005+01:00

As mentioned in my previous blog entry I was inspired to watch this by checking out the advance publicity for the next in the series, it was one of those DVD's that I had bought and left on the shelf, to watch someday. It got forgotten when I gave up on the franchise after watching number 3, and as I grew increasingly weary of the assembly-line release of still more films, as the tagline says "you think it is over, but the games have just begun." Finally motivated to watch it I slipped the disc in on a lonely night this Saturday and was quite surprised, but pleasantly. The movie was nowhere near as bad as I feared, actually holding my attention quite well and not seeming at all like the waste of time I'd expected, half poised to switch off before the end. Don't get me wrong there are flaws (I'll get to that) and this is far from a great or classic movie, and to be honest if you aren't a Saw fan then you might as well take a star off my eventual score, likewise if you haven't seen any of the movies then take away 2, this is not the place to start. That said I quite enjoyed it.
(SPOILER ALERT – If you haven’t seen Saw 4 and ever plan on coming to it fresh then stop reading right now!).
Let's start with the problems, the films now seem increasingly reliant on gore and torture leading to new ways of showing blood, guts, body parts etc at the expense of plot. There is more attention to the "Eurgh" response which annoys me as a viewer who likes at least some plot to back it up. From an opening autopsy scene which actually had me shouting to get on with it to traps so ridiculous and jarring they hold up to no analysis and seem designed for pure shock value only. Similarly while the plot is good in some ways, that I shall mention, the same flaws are still present that I mentioned in my Saw 2 review, even 2 films later. These include inescapable traps, nonsenscial motivations, and shocks and surprises which contradict and confound. Anyone wanting to pick the plot of this apart has an easy job.
Despite that though it has more of a plot thread than I was expecting. This time we follow SWAT Commander Rigg in his personal test (not dissimilar to how the whole of Saw 2 was ultimately a test for Detective Matthews (who makes a welcome and fairly cool return). Along the way we cleverly but not bafflingly follow various non-linear strands including the investigation of an apparent accomplice to the now deceased Jigsaw and Amanda, and crucially and brilliantly John Kramer's motivation for becoming the serial killer Jigsaw and his very first trap (it has a purpose, this is all stuff that was touched upon or detailed in the graphic novel spun off from the earlier films but so cool to see, actual character stuff I was not expecting).
The traps themselves do the job they are there for I guess, naturally some ennui has set in by now so some fall short while others seem to border on genius (I loved the woman being connected to her husband by steel rods through his major arteries but not hers so she held his fate in her hands, that's the kind of poetic justice that makes the villain so much more interesting than the hack, slash, gore factor). To be avoided are traps like the opening one where two people are pitted against one another, in this case deprived of different senses, but one has to die.
As things conclude it's jarring but great when we see cameos from people across all previous movies in the flashback pieces, until eventually we see that these events are playing out simultaneously with those from the third movie (the only way they can make sense really). That said the final reveal of Detective Hoffman as the heir to the legacy and our new villain seems like an attempt to replicate the effect of the same reveals of Jigsaw in the first movie and Amanda in the second, it fals short and is a bit confusing (though I read this is cleared up in the next film, which I do plan to buy and watch, being quite psyched for the next 2 now). It reeks of wanting to keep the franchise running despite killing off the guy who made it, thus emphasising how dumb this was!
Overall an enjoyable piece if you don't overthink it, better if you've been following all the films and paying attention but for me...

*** (3/5)

MM

Twitter Round-Up

2009-09-16T20:45:00.004+01:00

Hey there readers. If you're not folowing the site on Twitter then seriously it's worth doing, at least check it out, we are now following and being followed by various horror alumni, both famous and not so, just follow the link here.
If you haven't been following the tweet feed then there were a couple of short news items you may have missed, they were as follows:

Next Resident Evil sequel to be "Batman Begins" style reboot. Isn't everything these days?

Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 2009) to replace Rob Zombie and helm next installment of the Halloween franchise... in 3-D!

First reviews of "Zombieland" and "Jennifer's Body" are hitting the web (scoped some on AICN), apologies I haven't read them yet.

I'd also like to give a special mention to Lion's Gate Horror, who sought out and added OUR page, through them I got a lot of sneak peeks at the next Saw movie (the sixth!), which really surprised me how much it whet my appetite and reinvigorated my interest in that franchise, a great page well worth your time, access it here. You might want to also head over to the Saw Facebook page if you have an account there, it's chock full of Saw related goodness including first shots of posters, trailers, quotes, talkbacks, and killer competitions (excuse the pun). Find that here. I'm not a sell-out I promise, just sharing something I enjoyed and that some of you might too, that said the shameless promotion is officially over for now. Look out for related upcoming blog posts though.

MM

Solomon Kane - New Trailer

2009-09-13T15:08:00.003+01:00

BD (Bloody Disgusting) has the new trailer for action/adventure/horror/genre blender Solomon Kane (the titular character is played by James Purefoy). Looking like it borrows from a variety of films including The Lord of the Rings, this looks to be one action packed visual feast.

Watch the trailer for Solomon Kane

The Box - Questions?

2009-09-13T15:05:00.002+01:00

The trailer for The Box raises a lot of questions. Firstly, just what the hell is going on? When I read some of the early release info, it didn't seem to suggest that there'd be supernatural element - more that it's in fact a thriller. However, having watched the trailer repeatedly, there's clearly some very funky stuff going on. I'm very much looking forward to seeing this.

Stay in touch!

2009-09-07T17:38:00.005+01:00

Hi guys, MM here. IF you're a fan of the site and want to follow up to the minute breaking news or find out when a new post is up, or just find a new, easy way to interact and communicate with us, you can now follow us in a different way. Yes we've finally come into the 21st century (well, I have, but comments or questions for Mr B will be passed on). So, if you do the social networking thing follow us on Twitter at the link below...

http://twitter.com/thursdaythe12th

MM

Harper's Island Eps 1 and 2 - Review

2009-09-07T16:58:00.003+01:00

Part 1: Oh boy was this a slog. It starts off well with an early, very gruesome murder which seems to set the tone nicely then sadly devolves into a slasher equivalent of the bad teen dramas you try and avoid that are constantly on E4, kind of like a Halloween 90210. This, sadly, seems necessary to setting up characters, motivations etc for the murder mystery part of the narrative. We do successfully meet the main players and their relation to each other (I won't repeat them all here, watch the episode if you care). The cast are a mixed bag but Elaine Cassidy as Abby (already set up as our "final girl" with a plot identical to that of Neve Campbell's protagonist in Scream) doing an admirable job of carrying the show in these early stages. Also it has to be said that the show did pull off a genuine shock in the episode's second death, killing off a guy who had been firmly set up as a suspect for the murders. Not great, I almost did turn off during the Dawson's Creek moments at the party but thankfully worth getting through, and does get much more engaging than here too but not until...

Part 2: Much improved, THREE really grisly deaths again, much more intriguing development as this viewer, for one, tries to now get a handle on potential killers (my early money: nice guy ex Jimmy who is just far too likeable or the charming English fop with a glimpsed dark side who's dating the flirt, who just happens to have a thing for serial killers). The soap elements are much better handled as we ease into knowing and liking at least one group of characters in my case (those surrounding the groom being much more interesting than the bride's side). Another truly surprising set up of potential murderer, whom you then grow to care for, only to have her bizarrely killed off (off screen though, tut tut, its a god job you're a whodunnit). It is becoming slightly ludicrous that nobody has yet noticed people begin to be murdered on an island with history but that's a minor criticism as no doubt this will have to be addressed next week, suffice to say I'm already hooked, contemplating theories, avoiding spoilers so be warned and eagerly anticipating the third part. I'm loving playing along and really getting into even the soap like parts so if anyone cares to discuss it and is also avoiding looking up the answers online feel free to comment, check me out on Facebook or Twitter or e-mail wils1_uk@hotmail.com. Failing that I may do an investigative piece on the suspects after a couple more eps...

Ep 1: ** (2/5)
Ep 2: **** (4/5)

MM

The Grudge 3 - Review

2009-09-07T16:26:00.003+01:00

SPOILER WARNING This movie is basically the story of one family still living in the Chicago apartment block that, as of the last sequel, is now infected with the curse (in this movie named for the first time in the american franchise as a ju-on). The players are our "final girl/heroine" type, a teenage girl named Lisa who is about to move to New York with her boyfriend on a fashion fellowship, her elder brother Max, left in charge of the family and the building since their parents died and young 8 year old Rose, who suffers from some kind of terminal disease which is affecting her breathing (but oddly goes unnamed). I mention this because this film completely abandons the non-linear narrative and spooky investigative elements of the previous two pictures in favour of a plain kitchen-sink drama narrative involving these 3, whom the horror unfolds around, sort of like the american remake of Dark Water. Other characters are introduced (a total of 6: Jake (survivor from the last film, his psychiatrist Dr Sullivan (Saw's Shawnee Smith, the kindly neighbour Gretchen (Star Trek TNG's Marina Sirtis, and to a lesser degree Lisa's boyfriend and Max's boss but all of these are merely fodder to be introduced and then as quickly dispatched by Kayako/Toshio/the curse. We do however also meet Naoko, the sister of Kayako who, it conveniently turns out, knows a ritual to stop her siblings curse and is only now having nightmares compelling her to do so, tied into memories of the God awful "demon feeding" plot line from movie 2.
Let's get this straight: this is a bad movie, or more accurately a bad horror movie, as a drama there are times when it really seems to work, but that's not what I wanted to watch. There are literally 3 worthy scares, all quite effective but as before all rip-offs of effectively scary or creepy moments from previous or other films. We see Kayako emerge from a painting to murder Gretchen and trap Dr Sullivan in a maze of her own hospital rooms, both good enough with top class terrified acting from both genre queens, but frustratingly brief and off set by a couple of deaths which actually occur OFF-SCREEN!!! A cardinal sin for a horror film, if that's how this can be classified.
The plot, as it stands, is nonsensical and ridiculous. Naoko only now shows up to cleanse a house in a different country, several victims and a continent later? Even the little moments such as giving Gretchen arthritis and similar character traits are rendered pointless and leave you wondering why they bothered at all, she could just as easily have been a tap dancing albanian clown for all the effect it has on anything! It's quite nice seeing the glimpses of the story's history but here it's flogged to absolute death in a straight drama which I already don't care for, the little scenes will keep ardent fans very slightly placated, but ultimately wanting. The frustrating thing is there is a good sequel horror somewhere in this turgid mess, some ideas could be slightly altered or furthered, replacing bad ones to make a much better overall film, in fact that's just it, this feels like a first draft that was rushed into production and filmed.
The end was so bizarre and confusing I had to look up what it meant, not the stupid but well presented scene as the murdered Naoko becomes a new Kayako style apparition (baffling though this is within the continuity of how Kayako came to be) but the scene at the end which shows Rose, having drank Kayako's blood to stop her (no, really), now appear to be her, the implication being that she is now carrying her and all the evil spirits SHE had inside, at this point the whole thing collapses like a house of cards, assuming anyone cares enough after a looong hour and a half to question it. Special mention too to the attrocious special effects on the villains, painting them a near flourescent blue and yet having people act like they just saw a normal boy on the stairs. Did Lisa think he had some odd disease, or was just really, really cold? Dull on a criminal level, frustratingly not scary enough with too much emphasis on a terrible plot and not enough on actual horror! Sorry guys, catch it if you're desperate for a couple of nice jumps and scares that you properly have to fight for and work to get through to but otherwise take my advice and avoid it like the plague, there are much better horrors out there...

* (1/5)

MM

Finding Horror

2009-09-06T22:05:00.003+01:00

A short one this, but sometimes you see a film and then kinda forget about it. Good or bad, it sort of drifts into your subconscious, only to be remembered when someone makes a throwaway remark, or indeed remake as I originally typed accidentally.

This brings me to a film that recently resurfaced in my memories - The Exorcist 3. Released in 1990, the film stars Brad Dourif (genre favourite and also star of The Lord of the Rings) as 'The Gemini Killer'.

The movie is superior in almost every way to the bizzare sequel to the original film and it provides numerous shocks as well as a great atmosphere of dread. So, why can't I buy the damn thing on DVD at the moment? It looks as though I'll have to get either a box set of 1-4 or buy an american region 1. Damn it!

I'm sure this won't be the last time that this happens to me either, knowing my penchant for remembering weird horror that I saw a while ago but now want to rewatch...

The Unborn - Some Comments

2009-09-06T21:44:00.002+01:00

Man, was I hoping for this film to be great. The box art sets the scene, a girl with a pair of tight fitting white pants, being stared at by a creepy kid imposed in such a way that he's actually in the position of you, the person holding the DVD. Weird fact - but a good one. Luckily, there's more positive stuff to say about the film than Odette Yustman's behind, though possibly not a huge amount.

Look out - spoiler alert!
Sometimes the soul of a dead person has been so tainted with evil that it is denied entrance to heaven. It must endlessly wander the borderlands between worlds, desperately searching for a new body to inhabit. And sometimes it actually succeeds.

Writer/Director David Goyer (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible, Batman Begins) gives a terrifying glimpse into the life of the undead in The Unborn, a supernatural thriller that follows a young woman pulled into a world of nightmares when a demonic spirit haunts her and threatens everyone she loves.

Casey Bell (Odette Yustman) hated her mother for leaving her as a child. But when inexplicable things start to happen, Casey begins to understand why she left. Plagued by merciless dreams and a tortured ghost that haunts her waking hours, she must turn to the only spiritual advisor, Sendak (Gary Oldman), who can make it stop.

With Sendak's help, Casey uncovers the source of a family curse dating back to Nazi Germany - a creature with the ability to inhabit anyone or anything that is getting stronger with each possession. with the curse unleashed, her only chance at survival is to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born.
Spoiler alert over

Now that we've got the story out of the way (this is one of the few instances where I'll actually reveal what it is as the film does it quite quickly anyway), I'll get to the positives. The acting is on the whole ok, with Yustman looking nicely shocked (if believing the whole thing quite readily).

The special effects when used where pretty good and the shocks reasonably, well, shocking. Tropes of the genre such as an 'old religious text' turning up are all welcome to the fan as they lend some grounding. As a fan of the possession sub-genre The Unborn is a decent film.

Now for the bad. Which unfortunately is rather larger list than the good. Oldman is just bizzare, I mean really bizzare in this role. Not that he's bad - just why did he do it? I can't see why they couldn't get any half-ok jobbing actor to do it. Bringing in someone with his acting credentials really left me wanting more.

Meagan Good's character was laughable - going from one moment a true believer to another of completely disbelieving the very evidence in front of her face. Some of her scenes were unintentionally shout-at-the-screen bad - though I'd suggest this was largely a scripting issue than anything else.

Finally, and this is an apt word, the final part of the film is a waste of time. The demon apparently wanted to possess the body of Odette Yustman's Casey (sounds like an interesting idea) and yet in the final 20 minutes or so seemed far more intent on simply strangling her to death. Seriously, WTF guys?

Subtlety is how this film starts off - with strange dream sequences that hold messages for the unknowing Casey. I just wish the film had been far more subtle throughout and I feel it would have been much more successful. Rarely can you, after all, provide shocks and a creeping atmosphere all at the same time.

Harper's Island - Starts Tonight

2009-09-06T16:48:00.004+01:00

... on BBC 3. If you missed me previously trailing this then just click on the key word below. The first 2 episodes will be shown together as a double bill twice tonight at both 9pm and 11.05pm. I will be watching and giving the show a go and will hopefully be posting something on here with my thoughts at some point in the not too distant future, if the cold I'm suffering from ever improves any. Likewise apologies for the lack of material on my part but stress, illness and the tendency for life to alter any potential plans has conspired to lead me to watch a bit less horror and not feel up to writing much. I do, however, have The Grudge 3 sat in my front room waiting to be watched and the japanese Grudge 2 due in the post any day now so with a bit of luck you should look out for something on those too. In the meantime drop me a line if there's anything you want to see whilst the site is up and idle, I'm in this for you guys. Bye for now...
MM

Hostel - One Line Text Msg Review

2009-09-06T16:40:00.003+01:00

Hi all. Don't say that this blog doesn't give you naturalism from horror fanboys and their normal conversations, I lent Mr B my DVD copy of Hostel recently and received the following text on my cell phone mobile telephone:

"Yeah man, Hostel was good but I rememebered why I didn't get on with it, I just don't care for any of the characters".

In the absence of any posts from busy Mr B himself I think this review should suffice for now: clear, concise and to the point.

MM

Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Live Commentary

2009-08-31T14:35:00.010+01:00

Hi gang. Can't take credit for this as it was Mr B’s idea to literally transcribe what we say during one of our film viewings, in the style of a DVD commentary, or more like the “Couch Poato” sections of genre magazines etc. To clarify for you this has been edited, for the sake of my sanity and yours, however I will telegraph where the film is as we speak (it only occasionally corresponds though so be warned and obviously SPOILER WARNING). MM is myself, the pointing goon in the picture above and MB is Mr Butterscotch, who I’m pointing at. Let’s dig in, enjoy...

The movie kicks off and we meet our group of teens on a road trip driving through Texas.

MM: It’s quite telling how the first thing they change here is to ditch the disabled guy from the original movie, he obviously wouldnt fit into our P.C world.

MB: That’s nonsense dude, he only wouldn't fit into the P.C World in the sense that he wouldn’t be down the local computer store.

MM: ...Still I think it also speaks volumes that they change the reason for the protagonists being there from going to Texas for a funeral to driving through Texas on the way back from Mexico after partying hard and getting drugs, feeds into the whole punishment of amorality thing Im always going on about as a cliche in these films. It's notable too how the first lines of character dialogue are about sex and STD’s, and we see these guys smoking pot, the virtuous “final girl” type being all against it.

The gang meets a female wandering down a road and stops to pick her up.

MM: I vividly remember this crazy hitchhiker who pulls a gun out of... herself, and blows her brains out. Weird.

MB: How do they know something's wrong? Why stop anyway? Doesn't she cut somebody first and that’s when it all kicks off.

MM: No you’re thinking of the original, fairly tamer scene actually, the same equivalent character just cuts the disabled guy and gets thrown out, here there are whole beats and scenes about her having killed herself and what they should do about it, kicks off the plot and strands them in the hick town, alerts them to the weirdness.

MB: Why is the whole town in on it?

MM: They’re all related to Leatherface. It’s a horrible coincidence. But the whole town? Why actually are they all evil or mental, I know we were told in Film class it was about the decline of jobs and the working classes etc.

MB: Yeah it’s just attacking rural towns and working class back water families. It’s just social commentary.

MM: It’s rubbish social commentary.

MB: Agreed... Check out the van, that's a Dodge. You’d get a fair few miles to the gallon out of that bad boy.

MM: Alright Clarkson, let’s watch.

MB: Man Jessica Biel can't act but she sure has great t*ts.

MM: Agreed but dude.

MB: Woah man, look at them bounce (NB: this was repeated almost ad nauseum every time said actress was on screen, I shan’t transcribe every single example)

At this point we have reached the Hewitt residence and the folk outdoors have discovered something...

MM: What is that?

MB: It’s a girl in a jar.

It is, in fact, a picture of a girl, and her family, in a jar.

MM: I can’t believe you were right.

Inexplicably two of the group stumble round Leatherface's house, to much confusion. Eventually the man himself makes his appearance.

MB: I knew they re-did the sequence where he steps out, clobbers a guy then slams a door shut. Much less effective here though.

MM: True but the final image is exactly the same. Iconic. Plus this film gains points for not finishing up with a girl running away screeching for a solid half hour.

MB: That was annoying, and the shit with the grandpa. Eurgh.

We cut to Leatherface’s lair and among the victims' body parts we clearly see the head of famous film geek Harry Knowles.

MB: Knowles!?

MM: Man I always forget that, its the kind of thing I like to tell people, apparently Knowles tore this film a new one and that’s their revenge.

Leatherface uncovers an engagement ring on his latest victim.

MM: Ah, he was gonna propose. I’m affected all emotionally like. (NB: Sarcasm)

MB: What does he want with that? He’s keeping it. Obviously gonna use it for a c@”k ring.

We see a scene of Leatherface’s real face, it does not look good.

MB: It’s Zombie Chunk! “Hey you guys. Thunk!”

An ineffectual death or two later and we wind up back in the lair where we now follow Biel as she witnesses the strung up, suffering body of the blonde teen Mr B has christened “Bruno”

MM: What’s with the crucafixation imagery? Why is that there? I find that quite offensive.

MB: Why?

MM: Because they aren’t trying to say anything, it’s just risque imagery for its own sake, like its supposed to shock you. And why does she have to kill him, I hate that all good guys have to have a bit of bad, some darkness in them, it’s why nobody can make a good Superman film, people can’t accept there are genuinely good people who are good for good reasons.

MB: It’s a blooding, like the hunt. She has to be strong enough to take on and kill the bad guys.

MM: Is it some kind of comment on euthanasia?

MB: You’re reading far too much into this, remember “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”

Biel is chased through to a hut along with the one victim she hasn’t finished off for the baddies

MM: I just remembered this is the guy who directed the Friday the 13th remake. You see what I mean about the monochrome lens, with like a sepia filter. It’s fine for rural Texas in the 70’s but a modern, bright, sunny, summer camp.

MB: It’s all the downtrodden working class.

MM: ...

MB: Nobody in the 70’s looked as hot as these guys anyhow.

Leatherface finishes off a guy by chain saw through the crotch.

MM: OH!!! I both love and hate that scene.

MB: You don’t see anything!! If this was an extreme french or japanese film you would see him split in two and drop in two halves.

MM: I still think its effective, we differ a lot on that point, I don't think you have to see as much.

Biel is now chased through the abbatoir we passed earlier. Leatherface ploughs through two folds of hanging meaty corpse to attack her.

MM: That scene seemed quite phallic. Not sure it was intentional though. Maybe it was a metaphorical invasion of female power though for which he ends up neutered by losing an arm...?

Biel steals back a baby she met earlier and escapes, inviting comparisons to the original film, and it’s superior effectiveness again. The last scene I demand pause for and dig again as we get a final shock...

MB: Yeah not bad. Still enjoyable, decent. *** stars

MM: I might even go to ****

MB: I couldn’t man.

MM: Well i think so, yeah very good, still like it.

MM

Review - Saw 2

2009-08-31T14:24:00.003+01:00

Hello again fear mongers. Mr B and I decided on an impromptu horror double bill when hanging out last night and now Im sharing the resulting thoughts, views and opinions with you faithful few frighteners. Stay tuned for a special piece on Texas Chain Saw Massacre (the remake) in a style you haven’t seen before but first our more traditional thoughts and my review of the first film we watched, Saw 2.
I was surprised I talked Mr B into this but my excitable descriptions of pieces I recalled (I remembered quite digging this before) convinced him, so in the disc went, we munched on petrol station snacks, as has become the norm, and the logo’s played, much to Mr B’s approval, oh how things went downhill from there.
The film opens with a trap in progress (SPOILER ALERT – If you haven’t seen Saw 2 and ever plan on coming to it fresh then stop reading right now!). This involves a hapless victim having to gouge out his eye to retrieve a key to a death “mask” laden with spikes which will snap shut on him in a few seconds. Supposedly this is his poetic justice for having used his peepers to spy on people as an informant. I’m not ashamed to say I still think this scene and trap are incredible, you truly feel for the guy and put yourself in that horrendous position, the first thing through my mind being that I couldnt do it, pondered every time I see him reach for the eyeball with a blade. This also struck me as quite clever, it’s misdirection in a sense since you’re expecing an Un Chien Andalou style eye slicing but it doesnt happen, you’re left reeling as a viewer, disgusted by the idea of it but wanting it to happen so the poor guy can free himself, it’s almost cathartic and relieving when the mask snaps shut, reminiscent of a scene in Mask of Satan, a reference for the hardcore horror fanatics. Mr B looked nonplussed here but his opinion wasnt shared so on we ploughed.
We next launch into exposition setting up the cop characters, once Mr B had got over who both actors were (despite initial disbelief that it was Marky Mark Wahlberg’s brother and the chick from Starship Troopers) he concentrated, regretting it later but that’s to come. There was some hand wringing and excitement when we finally got to the meat of the story, meeting our protagonists all trapped in a house together. Lets deal with these sections of the film first...
Most of the traps Mr B found ridiculous, and it has to be said they dont hold up to logical analysis or scrutiny. I forgive a lot due to the fact the people here were clearly never meant to leave the first room but as Mr B pointed out with regards to a different matter its human nature not to sit around when you think you’re dying. That said he did visibly flinch twice, something I have NEVER seen him do as a hardened horror nut, due to his dislike of needles in one case, I forget the second.
It was during the more “police procedural” parts with Jigsaw and Detective Matthews that Mr B really expressed his distaste of what passed for a plot, completely disregarding the villains motivations and “logic”, its hard to disagree in part but I still find it cool at times in the series, and its not necessarily what they are about.
In conclusion not as good as I rememebered but still a worthy effort, some effective moments of emotional affectation, good plot beats and twists for me, and a few great traps and gore moments. My personal score...

*** (3/5)

MM

News/Reviews - Argento does giallo... badly!?

2009-08-31T13:08:00.003+01:00

Hi all, MM back in action. Apologies if it seems like shameless plugging but I'm afraid I have to once again link to a piece on AICN. In it the contributor "Dr William Weir" has posted a first review of Dario Argento's Giallo from the Fright Fest in our fair country. Be warned the piece contains very minor spoilers and is not kind. This saddens me as it is the first time this movie has been brought to my attention and I would hope for better, Argento's giallo's are my favourite of his movies, preferable to the more crazy supernatural efforts, in fact Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) remains one of my favourite horror movies. I may still hold out some hope for this one, its a personal fan boy thing.

MM

News - Weekend Round-Up

2009-08-29T20:22:00.004+01:00

Hi all. MM back on a particularly bored night, thought I may as well share a couple of new tidbits with you.
First of all the staff of AICN have posted their first official opinion on Rob Zombie's Halloween 2. I don't plan on linking to every one of these but this is a particularly good read, a very interesting piece and this guy Massawyrm seems to know what he's talking about and have as much love and respect for the genre as we here do.
Secondly as you'll see in the review if you check it out it's been announced that Zombie will be helming a remake of seminal horror "classic" The Blob, only apparently without the traditional representation of the titular amorphous monster, which he claims is too cheesy and wouldn't be accepted by audiences today. I really don't like this idea, The Blob never struck me as a great film anyway except in terms of a certain trashy B movie aesthetic (and an appearance by the legendary Steve McQueen in the original), a remake might be more suited to the likes of Robert Rodriguez or a director with similar sensibilities who isn't afraid to embrace the kitsch and corny. My opinion of the one Zombie film I've seen, Halloween, is well documented on the site and not wholly negative, but does lead me to expect the Blob to be a misunderstood shape-changing alien bounty hunter who was abused by his step parent from a warring species of intellectual inferiors. Still it is happening, you never know it could be worth a watch. Up to now Im totally indifferent to this news though, sorry fans.
MM

Harper's Island - Coming Soon

2009-08-26T21:32:00.004+01:00

Last post for today folks I promise.
Been seeing trailers for this new 13 episode show Harper's Island that's going to be coming to BBC Three (imported from the States of course). It looks a bit like a slasher film done as a tv series in that it is a murder mystery where the cast are picked off one by one. The viewer seemingly has to figure out the murderer along with the characters. Sounds very intriguing, keep an eye on your digital listings around Sept 6th and watch the trailer here...

or check out the spoiler heavy wikipedia page here

MM

Halloween 2 - First Reviews

2009-08-26T21:01:00.015+01:00

Hi again. A reader and contributor over at Ain't It Cool who attended the premiere of Rob Zombie's sequel has posted their first review. Although the folks over at AICN seem to be united in their loathing of the original Zombie Halloween I have to say I quite liked it in a way. Likewise despite this review tearing the sequel a new one it oddly made me just want to go see it. I am a troubled horror geek. Find the piece by following the linkage below...

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42155

MM

The Grudge 2 - Thoughts

2009-08-26T20:29:00.009+01:00

Hi again all. Apologies for the lack of material of late but I have been coping with some personal issues which have kept me somewhat out of the emotional state for horror. Proving that good friends and the genre are always there for you though it was during this time that Mr B came round, bought me petrol station snacks and we decided to (finally) watch this, since I picked it up at the store where I work for a steal at just £2. To warn you I may be cutting it some slack due to my mood (which may skew things unfairly against the film).
I started off being quite harsh towards the movie, and to be fair there are a lot of cliches, hallmarked shock and scare moments (none of which are scary and only a couple of which are spooky, be warned early), some abysmal dialogue and some truly awful special effects and plot contrivances. Lets try and deal with the movie in a linear sense (in terms of what we see, the film is mind-messingly non-linear, even more so than the first).
The opening scene is like a more brutal and violent rehash of the seeming suicide moment from the first movie, immediately leaving you with questions and not allowing you to ease back into this world, perhaps a bit more work, a link to the previous characters (Sarah Michelle Gellar is utilised later), or at least an appearance by the ghostly protagonists (of which there are plenty later, mostly lacking in effective atmosphere but some genius).
We next flash to our new lead girl (or what passes for one). In this case it is Amber Tamblyn, the sister of Karen (S.M.G) from the first movie and, for seemingly NO reason, it is set up that she has a torrid relationship with their mother and her sister. It's possibly supposed to add depth, and we do learn later some guff about them wanting her to go to a certain college, it's really not in any way effective. This is probably a scripting issue if I had to place blame.
At this point my memory is hazy, I recall being ambivalent towards the messed up time structure, loving seeing some of the kills (though the cleverest moments are rehashes of those seen in the original US or Japanese Grudge (ghost under the covers, chasing you as the lights go out etc). There were some great ones though which Mr B can attest I loved, or at least admired, and I shan't spoil them.
The direction is fantastic, but I expected nothing less from the man responsible for single handedly overseeing two countries' versions of this story, one Shimizu Takashi (who created the story, writing the vastly superior, excellent and original Ju-On)
I hated the unnecessary (and disregarded) added exposition about why Kayako became how she was (her mother implanted her with evil spirits, no seriously), it is ridiculous, takes away some of the cool, supernatural mystique and is thrown away out of hand as untrue even within the film.
Likewise the film's ending, whilst maybe seeming arty merely leaves you thinking that the whole event was a bit pointless. I don't normally feel this way but here it jars that nothing has moved on, more people you could not really form a connection with have died and the curse has spread to another country, with the implication that it will continue to. Our lead "final girl" makes no attempt to solve this quandary as it has been so well set up as an unstoppable force so it feels like just rehashing and treading water. I fear for where the 3rd movie could take this as I don't see any logical progression.
However as I say I love how the whole thing looked, the narative and its unusual form did keep you hooked as you tried to work out connections etc, half of the cast do well and the moments are enjoyable enough. It's hard to give specific reasons why but I know I enjoyed this more than the last Friday the 13th, the last thing I reviewed. Maybe Im just not as protective a fan, or being generous. Or perhaps its just that Mr B and I agreed when setting up the site that we wouldnt allow half marks. In any case a solid, non-offensive example of the J-horror spook, done USA style, not bad but not especially good...

*** (3/5)

MM

The Wolfman (2010) - Trailer

2009-08-21T20:49:00.004+01:00

Hi again faithful fright fans.
Hope I'm not treading on any toes here but Mr B's previous post spurred me to finding this (it wasn't easy) and I thought I would share it with you. I'll be honest I've been acutely aware of this movie for a while but it hadn't grabbed my interest, until now. It's good in a way to see Universal revisit the old horror classics of their monster mashing heyday but I'm still not convinced the character can be shocking or relevant enough for a world that seems to have moved on beyond this, plus some of the cliche elements seem ridiculously hokey, I can't be the only one who thought of scenes being almost humourous that have been so readily parodied (the curse, the gypsy woman, the moors etc). That said I wasn't aware until now that the writer is someone I greatly admire, one Andrew Kevin Walker, and the film does look good, also check out that cast (Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving) all completely stepping up to the top of their game, if this preview is any indication. Yup, atmospheric and evocative with genuine emotion, thanks Mr B, the geek radar is definitely registering interest now. Check it out for yourselves...

MM

Vile Things: Extreme Derivations of Horror - Book Review

2009-08-21T16:50:00.003+01:00

Here's the blurb from the publisher first of all:
"Vile Things is the ultimate collection of extreme horror with 15 unspeakably gruesome, cringe-worthy, and sometimes disturbingly hilarious tales. and above all else an entertaining and damn good, fun read. The stories, most of which are previously unpublished, include a wide range of subjects: the Jersey Devil, zombies, sadistic Nazis, insatiable ghouls, perverted fishermen, a cult of Basilisk, tequila worms, and much more!"

So, does it live up to the hype? Is this the 'ultimate collection of horror' as it states? No, I'm afraid it is not. What Vile Things does offer is some tales the like of which you're unlikely to read elsewhere. They aren't all in the 'usual' horror mode - you won't find the usual serial killer or ghost in here I'm afraid.

What will you find then? You'll find dark tales of a worm that makes a relationship something which it definitely shouldn't be (The Worm, John Bruni), a monster reborn in the most disturbing of ways (Coquettrice, Angel Leigh McCoy) and one of the most disturbing stories I've read in a while - The Caterpillar by C. Dennis Moore.

Each story seemed to be quite short - for some this definitely hampered the narrative. One or two were actually part of a longer narrative explored in other tales - I'm not a fan of including these in short story collections, though I am sure that writers and publishers are.

I think the standout word here for the stories is strange - rather than vile. Well, perhaps that's not fair. Graham Masterton once again has done the business with his story of Sepsis (oh my god, what a way for two people to become one - and definitely not in a good way).

If you're new to horror fiction, don't read this first. There's a possibility you'll be put off by the disturbing nature of some of the stories. If, however, you're a massive fan of the horror short form, then you could do worse than take a look at this collection. For the record, I was one of the first in the UK to get a copy - shame it took me so damn long to get the review up!

The Wolfman - First Thoughts

2009-08-21T13:50:00.001+01:00

Del Toro is the man - he is THE MAN. This trailer proves it. The fact is, it's made better by the fact that Anthony Hopkins is in it too. I didn't realise that it was actually going to be a period piece, which makes the idea behind The Wolfman even more exciting. I, for one, cannot wait to see this. An intense, gothic film is no doubt waiting to be enjoyed.

Pandorum - An Interview With Paul W S Anderson

2009-08-21T13:45:00.003+01:00

Bloody Disgusting has an interview with the producer of Pandorum, Paul W S Anderson. Do I want to see this film? Oh yeah. Especially as 'Mr Event Horizon' is producing and no doubt will make sure there are plenty of shocks. It still looks like the monsters are weird orcs though.

Grotesque Banned...

2009-08-20T23:45:00.002+01:00

The BBFC have taken the unusual decision (in this day and age anyway) of banning a movie. This time around, it's Grotesque that gets hit with the chopper, due to scenes of a sexually graphical violent nature. These scenes are apparently sustained throughout and were viewed as disturbing and unwarranted to the story.

Interestingly, I've not heard much about the film but the fact that it has received the ban does make me wonder what all the fuss is about. Apparently, Grotesque is a Japanese horror in the same sub-genre as Hostel - so no doubt torture-porn.

The Final Destination - Trailer

2009-08-17T21:25:00.005+01:00

Ok so the accidents spurring the invisble but deadly version of death into increasingly convoluted action are getting increasingly ludicrous, as is the Mouse Trap-style nature of each catastrophe, and the acting and plot. But lets be honest that's not what you're here for when you're watching these flicks. This is one of those series where fans (myself included previously, though not rabidly) feel a sense of ownership from the familiarity and it's cool to see how inventive and shocking (in a literal but perhaps not visceral way) the cast can be dispatched. As for the plot? lead? survivors? Does ANYONE care? Check out the trailer below if you're interested anyhow...

Its out in a couple of weeks and in eye popping 3-d in selected theatres, which should afford the visuals about 2 dimensions more than the writing or acting. One I probably won't be in line for, except out of morbid curiousity or boredom perhaps.

MM

Some Decent Horror Music - Slayer

2009-08-17T21:23:00.003+01:00

What's the devil's music? Well, my choice tonight has been Slayer. A classic Bay Area metal band, they didn't seem to lose their way - not as much as Metallica anyway. They didn't make any poncey videos either.

Tracks like Raining Blood are bloody excellent in my opinion and go well with a horror film drinking session or two. I'll save that bit for the weekend or my upcoming days off!

Diabolus In Musica anyone? C'mon, it even has a creepy dude on the cover!

High Lane - Hell Yeah!

2009-08-17T21:21:00.002+01:00

There's a new French film called High Lane that looks absolutely brilliant. Cliffhanger meets... well we don't know what yet, because the trailer doesn't really reveal very much at all.

See the three new trailers at Bloody Disgusting.

News - Straw Dogs (2010)

2009-08-17T20:16:00.005+01:00

Hi again, Marvel Man here once more, on an especially prolific blogging day (did you all check out Jennifer's Body? Are you as psyched as I am? What did you all think?). This time around I have a bit of news which should be exciting for a fair proportion of horror and classic film fans.
Channel 4's digital teletext service is reporting that a cast is now in place for the, now official, remake of seventies controversial classic, and Mr B favourite, Straw Dogs.
They state that Superman Returns stars Kate Bosworth and James Marsden will take the lead roles, and be joined by genre veteran/bona fide legend/ Family Guy favourite James Woods (Videodrome).
The piece states:

"The Superman Returns star plays the wife of a Hollywood screenwriter - played by Marsden - who returns to her home town, only to find that life there is not as idyllic as she remembered.
Straw Dogs shocked audiences with its violence on release in 1971. The new film version is due out in 2010."

I shall refrain from commenting on the original film, as my views were made clear in a previous piece, but I will say that it is arguably influential, definitely infamous and an absolute favourite of Mr B who will no doubt comment further. From a solely casting standpoint I have to say Marsden is a favourite of mine, and Woods should be great in this role. Bosworth has never struck me as great but there may be a slight glimmer of potential, she certainly has a lot to prove, and live up to, here.

MM

Jennifer's Body - Preview and Green Band Trailer

2009-08-17T18:23:00.007+01:00

I'll be honest the more I see or read about this movie the more interested I become, and not JUST because it has Mega(n) Fox in the lead role looking and acting pretty hot. Writer Diablo Cody seems to at least have an ear for authentic youth dialogue (though I haven't actually watched all of Juno) and knows how to milk the situations for humour or horror from the reality and the truth of being young and messed up (literally in this case).
For those not in the know the movie sees Fox's bitchy cheerleader, the hottest girl in school type, kidnapped by a Satan-worshipping rock band and possessed by a demon. As she goes on a killing spree, rampaging through the school's male population, her wallflower best friend (Mamma Mia's Amanda Seyfried, but don't hold that against her) must find her strength, kill her and despatch those responsible.
I'll admit it's not exactly looking original, the high school tropes and types seem a bit cheesy, and unrelatable potentially. But the piece seems to be quite intense and takes itself refreshingly seriously for the most part. And the trailer definitely looks quite cool, do seriously check it out (it's just below...), and see the Red Band version too if you can (embedding was disabled and some copies wouldn't play in the UK). Yup, I do definitely wanna check this one out...

MM

Pride and Prejudice... and Zombies.

2009-08-17T17:39:00.004+01:00

Hey guys. An intriguing thing happened to me this weekend, whilst at work I got my hands on a copy of a book I've been interested in for a while named, you guessed it, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. What surprised me was, informing my partner in terror-blogging Mr B about it he wasn't aware of its existence. To that end I realised that a lot of fans of the genre may be unfamiliar with some circles, literary being one of them, so think of me as your own personal Newsnight Review, or perhaps Richard and Judy...
The book is co-written by an author named Seth Grahame-Smith, along with original author Jane Austen , who remains credited. The reason being that what Grahame-Smith has done is simply take the text of the original Pride and Prejudice and, in his own words, added "all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem", expanding the book and "transforming a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read". In other words the novel is, to over-simplify, merely Pride and Prejudice reimagined as a sort of Dawn of the Dead style zombie survival horror,... with romance... and a bizarre clash of subject and era.
The first noticeable thing about the book, having begun to read it, is just how close to the source text Grahame-Smith can be, the author himself has commented that in certain places where metaphors like "unmentionables" were deployed and references to enemies and fighting in wars utilised it was easy to see the story his way. There are added bits though, including bizarre subplots and a lot of familiar imagery and dialogue for zombie fans, and as mentioned some truly bizarre and admittedly hilarious clashes of genre. Initially I feared that some of this might get old, but up to now it has remained both engaging and hilarious, sample dialogue:

" It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

" The wedding took place, and no one other than Elizabeth suspected the bride's condition."

""My dear girl," said her ladyship. "I suggest you take this contest seriously. My ninjas will show you no mercy."

As an unusual experiment it seems to really work, one can absorb the original story, and see where it remains, quite easily. This leaves the reader feeling a bit intellectual but not bored and thrilled in fact by the overt horror tropes. It's not surprising that the book is a New York Times Best Seller and, of course, a Hollywood movie is in the works. In the end the title and truly amazing cover say it all, its up to the reader to decide if they will enjoy it, but this reader and horror fan is enjoying the expeience of working through it, and it puts a smile on my face.

MM

Zombieland - Red Band Trailer

2009-08-16T11:07:00.003+01:00

My good friend Marvel Man will tell you that I'm not a fan of horror mixed with comedy - I'm not sure I get the point of it whatsoever. You can't become a quivering heap of terrified flesh and then be laughing your head off (pardon the pun) at the same time. Something in Zombieland seems to do it for me though. See what you think.

Note: This is the red band trailer. For adults only.

A Poltergeist Remake?

2009-08-16T10:55:00.002+01:00

BloodyDisgusting.com has picked up on the story that MGM is moving along with a remake of the horror classic Poltergeist. Vadim Perelman has been mooted to direct (could be an interesting choice as he's an intelligent, thoughtful chap) and a tentative date of November 2010 has been given.

Poltergeist is the tale of a property development on an Indian burial ground which awakens an evil spirit. The original film remains a classic and a genre favourite of mine.