Movie Review - We Are Still Here

We Are Still Here

2015

The Cast

This is a strange film as I really wanted to rate it more than the 6.5 I have, however, I just cannot as the movie could have been a lot better than it was.  There is an excellent cast with Barbara Crampton as the lead role, Anne Sacchetti.  The actors give a good performance, but what the movie suffers from are the long panoramic shots, and I mean long as in a time sense.  I know that they are there to build atmosphere and give the viewer a sense of the location but the director stays on the shot for too long.  This has the effect of slowing the movie down and gives it a disjointed feeling.

Then there is the bar come restaurant scene where everybody stops eating and watches the newbies enter the restaurant.  I think the director was going for ominous, but for me, it was ludicrously silly and only helped in lessening the film's power.  The scene should have hit the cutting room floor.

Then there is the soundtrack, which to say the least, is strange, especially in respect to the movie and the story.  It is set of psychedelic pop tracks that do not match mood or style.

All this said, there is something that draws you to the film.  The special effects are superb, from the ghostly shadow figures to the continually smouldering skin of the burn victims, which is beautiful in its own way.  When the strange events occur the director, Ted Geoghegan does an admirable job of building a spooky air and tension.

And if you like your gore then if you wait until the movie's climax you will have your fill.  There are some really good deaths and one really realistic one.

Usually, when I rate so low I don't recommend the film at all.  This time I recommend the movie to all horror movie watchers but with the warning that you will need to stay with it and to ignore the bad bits.

I enjoyed the film, in all its strangeness.  In honesty, I don't know if this is the film that the director wanted.  If it is, then he was trying something new and original, which is to be commended, though with this project I don't believe it worked too well.

I give this a supernatural smokey 6.5 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - 13 Sins

13 Sins

2014

The Cast

This is a really interesting film that asks the question, what will you do for money?  Kill a fly for a thousand dollars?  Eat the dead fly to cover your fiance's debts?

This is the quandary that our anti-hero, Elliott Brindle (portrayed amiably by Mark Webber), has to face when his phone rings one night while he's out for a drive.  The voice on the other end of the line is both eloquent, haunting, and scary in equal measures (voiced brilliantly by George Coe and sounding a lot like Angus Scrimm from Phantasm - I just wanted him to say, "BOY!"), seems to know everything about Elliott's life and circumstances... he's lost his job... his mentally handicapped brother will have to go back into care... his racist father has to leave his assisted living residence, to move in with his son and his coloured fiance,

The voice assures him that in thirty-two hours he could have enough money to make all his problems disappear.

What would you do?  Elliott accepts the thirteen challenges and as the hour's progress the trials get progressively nastier and deadlier.

Daniel Stamm who directed the film and along with David Birke wrote the screenplay does a good job of pacing the film through a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, building a nice tension.  I knew the twist was coming at the end, though the writers do a good job of giving you a few possible outcomes to try and keep you off balance.

The film's strength and enjoyability is helped by having three strong actors in the cast; Ron Perlman (Detective Chilcoat), Pruitt Taylor Vince (Vogler), and Tom Bower (Elliot's Father). Even Devon Graye playing the handicapped Michael Brindle does a decent portrayal, which I didn't find too disagreeable at all.

Even though this is primarily a thriller the vagueness and unknown origin of the voice and it's all-encompassing knowledge, along with the conspiracy theory of pure evil adds a possible supernatural / religious angle to the story.  Those parts of the story along with the style of direction and building of tension and fear make this a Horror film too.

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would have as this type of story has the probability to be full of cliches and familiar scenes.  However, even though some of the cliches and scene's are there the acting and direction make them seem fresh.  There have been reviews stating that the ending is an anticlimax and flat.  Though I like the ending as it resembles reality.

If you like this style of film and story then give this a try and you shouldn't be too disappointed.  But if this is on and your car has broken down so you can't visit friends and family, then give this a look, you may enjoy it.

I give this a puppet-master 8.25 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Wyrmwood

Wyrmwood:  Road Of The Dead

2014

The Cast

If you, like myself, have started to become bored with the "Zombie-Fest" the film companies have given us, from the remakes of George Romero's classics to Zombie Nazi's to World War Z, then this is a great big breath of fresh air... or not (you'll get that joke once you watch the film.

What you get here is the classic opening and cause for the Zombie plague, a group of falling stars which changes the chemical make-up of the air.  The change forces the population to become Zombies, except for one particular blood group... these are our survivors.

Along the way you get their stories, an army with a suspect mission, a mad professor with an insane plan to help the human race, and the next generation of Zombie.  Even though all of this has been done before in other films, the vigour with which the director, Kiah Roache-Turner gives the film, and the twists to the "Zombie Myths" which the writers, Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner, add give this film and the particular genre a much-deserved kick in the arse.

The actors were great and did a fantastic job on the characterisations.  I especially liked Leon Burchell as Benny, who blows a guys head off to find he wasn't a Zombie, to which he runs over to the corpse and shouts, "Is he okay?  Is he gonna be okay?"

The first time I saw Barry, the main hero, I wasn't too sure of his character or the actor playing him, Jay Gallagher.  I was wrong about my initial opinion on the character and actor, as his story is one of loss, anger, revenge, and growth, and shows what kind of psychological journey you would take should the Zombie Apocalypse occur.

Bianca Bradey did a wonderful job of portraying Barry's sister Brooke, who is a strong, intelligent, take-no-crap, woman.  Frank, played by Keith Agius, is a wonderful character who has a great depth to him, the scene in the stalled truck is brilliant.  The mad professor is greatly over-acted by Berynn Schwerdt making him a wonderful psychopath.

This film is so chock-full of so many different things, even genres, comedy, action, thriller, with horror being the main genre and I was grateful that the horror feel stayed throughout.  I was waiting to be dismayed when it all eventually fell apart.  Like watching a plate twirler, you're expecting a plate to fall and smash, and once that happens usually all the other plates follow.  When the end came and the credits rolled, I was wearing a big smile on my face, thanks guys for a great film.

I caught this as it aired on Film4 though now I'm looking to pick up a copy so I can throw it at my friends while screaming, "WATCH THIS!"

This is a MUST WATCH for any Zombie-ites out there.  I give this a flesh-ripping blood-dripping 10 out of 10.

Okay, so the trailer is below, however, I would recommend watching the movie and not the trailer, because, as is the want of trailers, some (not even most and definitely not all) of the good scenes are shown, but most of the pivotal scenes are, which would be better and more satisfying when viewed in the movie.

You Have Been Warned!

What Is Horror?

One of the things that annoys me most is when a film studios try to pass off other genre movies as Horror when they are not.

There is a myriad of thrillers that have been incorrectly labelled as Horror.  One of the first would have to be the classic Hitchcock movie "Psycho".  I will not argue this is a great film, expertly crafted from a well written Ira Levin novel, and sporting an innovative soundtrack.  But it so clearly not Horror.

The one Hitchcock movie that would fall into the Horror genre is the fantastic Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor film "The Birds".  The one thing making this a Horror film is the concept of the birds attacking the human population, worldwide.  Hitchcock left the explanation for this incident vague; by doing this it makes the occurrence a supernatural event, making the story fall squarely into the Horror genre.

In more recent times the classic John Carpenter movie "Halloween" and Rob Zombies Re-Boot is another example.  In Carpenters superlative version you get a proper Horror / Slasher movie.  With his creation and characterisation of Michael Myers being purposely left vague, even the psychologist (portrayed brilliantly by Donald Pleasance) isn't sure if darker entities are at play within Michael, it makes the audience think that maybe Michael isn't altogether human.

Whereas, Zombie decided to go down the more realistic route and explain exactly why Michael is the way he is.  Just by doing this he removed the supernatural / paranormal element which made the movie a Horror film.  So what you get in the reboot is a Slasher / Thriller with gory and horrific images.  Just because a film contains gore or graphic scenes does not make it a horror.

So why are some Science Fiction movies classed as Horror?

Alien and The Thing are two great examples of this.  Both are of a sound Sci-Fi base, Aliens found in space, Aliens found on Earth:  However, because the "Aliens" have been created in a writer's imagination, they are not real, and therefore can fall into the Supernatural / Paranormal category.  The directors in both movies, Ridley Scott and John Carpenter, chose to film the story so as to heighten the audience's feelings of nervousness and tension.  This combined with the grizzly scenes make these two Horror movies.

Through direction alone you can alter a genre.  Take James Cameron's sequel "Aliens" which is just an action movie.  Most of the Sci-Fi and Horror elements have been removed in favour a "Us against Them" type of action film...  Rambo in space...

So in this Blog, I will only review movies, books, graphic novels, and comics that fall into my definition of the Horror genre.  Do not worry, though, as other genres will have their own Blogs.