Movie Review - Ouija

Ouija

(2014)

Universal Pictures / Platinum Dunes / Blumhouse Productions / Hasbro Studios : Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

6.25 / 10

The most amazing thing about this movie is that one of the production companies is the toy company Hasbro, who manufactures the Ouija board.  I find it funny and interesting that they use the movie to push their product... something that will contact the dead and will probably cause your gruesome death.

This is an enjoyable, though a pretty basic, horror movie.  Best friends, Laine and Debbie, play with the Ouija as children obeying the rules that they should be courteous and never play alone.  Years later, Debbie uses the board by herself and strange things start to happen, which results in her growing distant from her friends and boyfriend.  Using the ouija in solitary leads to her violent death.

Laine agrees to house sit for Debbies distraught parents after the funeral as they need to get away.  She realises the board had a part to play in her friend's death so rallies the others to help here prove the idea.  Of course, this is a bad idea and the spirit they contact starts to plague them in their lives.  From here on in, it's a race to save themselves and to solve the mystery of the origin of the board.

There's nothing really new in this film that hasn't been covered before.  The acting of the entire cast is above average and makes the film enjoyable to watch, as is the direction from Stiles White, who co-wrote the story with Juliet Snowden.  Since this is a Blumhouse production there's a cameo from Lin Shaye, who, as always is good in her role (though I will always remember her as the landlady in Kingpin).

This is one of those films that's worth watching if it comes onto telly and there's nothing better on.  At least worth watching once, though I don't think I'll watch it again... though I will watch the sequel when it's on or if I can borrow it from friends.

Movie Review - Mother Of Tears: The Third Mother

Mother Of Tears - The Third Mother

(2007)

Medusa Film / Opera Film / Myriad Pictures / Sky Cinema / Film Commission - Torino-Piemonte : Medusa Distribuzione / Dimension Extreme / Optimum Releasing

5.5 / 10

Unfortunately, the blurb on the poster, "An Instant Cult Classic" quite overrates this film.  We have waited twenty-seven years for this film and it falls drastically short of the hype and expectation I had as a fan of the trilogy.

Firstly, Argento made the decision to forgo the style and lighting of the two previous chapters for a more "modern" gritty style.  This works okay with the film if it were a "stand alone"; however, because the previous films were so iconic this missing element actually hurts the film.

Along with the missing style is the disappearance of the lavish and grand sets.

I can understand the reasons for doing this, though, I for one would have liked it had he tried to tie it in with the preceding films.

The story, once again, expands on the Three Witches mythology and settings.  Upon opening an urn, found outside a cemetery in Rome, an evil is let loose on the city and the world.  It falls upon Sarah Mandy, irritatingly portrayed by Asia Argento, to try to halt the threat, and what a threat, what with all witches from around the globe descending on Rome...  Except it's not as there's not a lot of witchery witchcraft going on.

The story in this chapter of the trilogy is more comprehensive and understandable though it doesn't have quite the same atmosphere or tone.  This might be because of the number of writers scripting the tale - too many chefs...

On the upside, there are some nice and gruesome murders.  I especially liked the train toilet door witch kill and the lesbian eye puncturing.  However, these seem less choreographed than in the previous films again going for a more realistic feel.  One of the story points I really loved was the encroaching travesty and violence which is affecting people's lives.  This is represented by the people in the background shots arguing and fighting, this is a nice little touch.  They missed an opportunity here to show how widespread the effects of the Third Mother had spread.  Since Argento had switched over to digital (which wasn't a good idea as the look and feel are flatter than that of celluloid) he could have asked friends and family around the world to take some videos of extras skirmishing in cities around the world.

However, it's the end that is probably the worst scene in the movie as the Mother Of Tears gets "Ming'ed" at the climax of the movie and the CGI landscape is laughable, when our heroes climb out of a hole in the ground.  Italians are geniuses when it comes to wetwork special FX, though not so good at the computer generated stuff.

If you're going to watch this as part of the trilogy then you have been forewarned.  However, it does work well as a stand-alone movie, since it is so different, in every aspect, than the previous films.

Not brilliant, but not a turn off either.

Video Nasty - Inferno: The Second Mother

Inferno - The Second Mother

(1980)

Produzioni Intersound : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation / Anchor Bay Entertainment / Arrow Film Distributors

8.25 / 10

In my opinion, this was wrongly given a video nasty label as it towers above the rest in that dubious genre.  Once again Argento gives the audience a beautifully shot horror movie, filled with elegant locations, bewitching choreographed death scenes, and mood lighting to chill the bones.

This time the story is larger than the first chapter as it encompasses both Rome and New York.  We are no longer confined to just one building with its tenants and this gives Argento more scope to show how widespread the occult has become and to strengthen the story.  We are shown a hidden room in a cellar.  This is an ingenious set in the movie as the room is flooded, so our heroine has to dive in when she loses a bracelet through a whole in the floor. With the use of music, camera angles, and shots through the murky water he creates a nice uneasiness.

This is one of many excellent scenes that give the movie its strength.  The mysterious Alchemist in the labyrinths of a library.  The inexplicable beautiful woman, in a Rome lecture class, with her cat.  Kazanian, the bookstore owner, in Central Park.

It's also great to hear Keith Emerson, of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, again as he composed some of the music for the soundtrack.

As with Suspiria, it's the story that is the comedown of the movie.  For it too, suffers from being muddled and confusing, though not to the extent of Suspiria.  But it's not enough to distract from the story and not reason enough to not watch the film.

This is better than Suspiria and builds on the mythos of the witches, their powers, and their histories.  Argento has shaped the movie to be a "stand alone", so it doesn't matter if you've watched the first movie or not.

I would recommend this film, not just to horror fans, but to film buffs in general, as Dario Argento, in this period was trying something new in the genre, which hasn't really been seen since.  This is a movie to enjoy.

Nergling - The Video Nasties Scare - Inferno

Movie Review - Suspiria: The First Mother

Suspiria - The First Mother

(1977)

Seda Spettacoli : EMI / International Classics / Image Entertainment / Nouveaux Pictures

7.5 / 10

Suspiria has a special place in my heart as it was totally breathtaking to watch as Dario Argento's visual and audio style is something to behold.

Right from the start, as Suzy Bannion, elegantly portrayed by Jessica Harper, walks through the airport Argento gives the viewer a bright and colourful shot of her walking to the doors.  He doesn't like to use filters but would rather use lighting and colour to create atmosphere.  Each time we get a shot of the entranceway Argento brings in the electronic music then cuts it when we see Suzy again.  This gives the feeling that something strange is awaiting her once she departs from the airport.

Then when she's in the cab on the way to the academy he uses the driving rain, tense music and colours of red and blue to create an uneasy mood.  This is throughout the film and was tremendous as it showed me another way to shoot movies, especially horror films as they relied too much on darkness.  Even when in the dark Argento still gave the audience enough light to make out everything, opting for a blue haze.  It also makes him work to find new ways to create suspense and tension.

The other outstanding element is the lavishness of the sets.  These are very stylistic and beautiful and add a magical facet to the story and the film.  Later in the film, we realise why the academy is featured in such a prominent way.

As I said in my review of Argento's Tenebre, he is a master of murder and death.  Here it's the first murder that affirms the point.  Argento makes it feel as though your watching a ballet, gruesome though it is.

On this rewatching, I had to admit that I must have annoyed the neighbours in my youth when I originally watched it.  I couldn't remember the music being so loud it overpowered the actor's lines.  This could be something to do with the remastering, so when I watched this at night I had to ride the volume control up and down so I didn't get any neighbourly warning knocks on the wall.  So be warned on that.

Another drawback is the muddled story as you're never really sure where it's going or what's happening; though this might have been what writers Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi were going for, to add to the unease of the story.  That said it does distract from the film a little.

If you like horror films and not seen an Argento movie yet then this and the other two in the Three Mothers Trilogy are a good place to start.  You will see there are other ways to envisage horror films.

Movie Review - The Door To The Other Side

The Door To The Other Side

(2016)

JaBeep Films / 4Digital Media

7.25 / 10

I love films like this that surprise me with their originality and filmmaking.  Though this is a budget film the director, Norman Lesperance, does an absolutely wonderful job of creating a decent horror movie.

Tim played wonderfully by Mitch Holden, is an agoraphobic unable to leave his home and hardly speaks to people and is nearly incapable of acting and reacting to people.  Thanks to his neighbours Tim and Joan, nicely portrayed by Nicholas Bianchi (who wrote the script) and Chelsea Gilligan respectively, he is slowly coerced out of his reclusive lifestyle.

As time passes, we begin to see that not only is the house where a supernatural event occurred but it affected his wife and daughter; his wife died and his daughter ran away.  There are secrets and surprises abound as the audience learns about power residing in the house and what it's capable of.

This is a very well acted strong story of supernatural and paranormal incidents that adds to both haunted house and possession mythologies.

This is not a fast action packed CGI special effects laden venture.  It is an atmospheric and unnerving affair that makes you think.

This is definitely a film to watch with the lights on low while wrapped up in your lover's arms.

If you've watched The Haunting Of Hill House and enjoyed it then you will probably like this film too.

A nice eerie film.

This Trailer Does Nothing For The Film - It's Much MUCH Better Than This Trailer Implies.

Movie Review - Devil In The Dark

Devil In The Dark

(2017)

Co-Pilot Film Services : eOne Entertainment / Momentum Pictures

2.25 / 10

Nice poster shame about the film... well, shame about the story actually.

This is NOT a horror story, nor is it a thriller.  Basically, this is a drama about two brothers and their relationship in relation to their father and his death.  These two brothers, Clint, played admirably by Dan Payne, and Adam, nicely acted by Robin Dunne, are two very different people with different interests and lives.  Though in an effort to build some kind of connection between them Adam asks his brother to go on a camping trip with him.  Clint turns it into a hunting trip.  Adam agrees though he doesn't like hunting.

Adam suffers from a reoccurring nightmare where he's a kid lost in the woods.  He finds himself in a strange clearing of dead trees that are decorated with stags antlers.  There's something in the woods with him though he never gets to see what it is.

Imagine his horror when on the hunting trip with his brother they find themselves in the very same dead tree clearing.

It takes half of the film to get to this point.  Up until then, we see the brothers arguing with each other, remembering past times, reconciling over other things.  Even though the actors do a good job with their characters it's the story, written by Carey Dickson, that makes them unbelievable.  It's not until the second half of the film that we're told it was Adams idea to come see his brother; if this is the case then why does he arrive late to dinner, wasting time driving around the town, and leave quickly afterwards to spend time with his old drinking buddies getting drunk.  This doesn't ring true and there are plenty of other places in the script that feel the same way.

The director, Tim Brown, doesn't bring anything to the film.  Instead of creating an atmosphere of unease and terror in Adam's dreams or when the brothers are troubled in the woods, he just gives the audience a bland rendition of the story.

The big letdown of the film is the reveal of the woodland monster.  If you're a horror fan you'll know instantly where you've seen the naked blind albino humanoid form before - in a more terrifyingly atmospheric film than this, is where.  On the heels of that is the "twist" at the climax.  It's been done before and better - you just know it's coming.  It's meant to leave you with a chill.  It just left me sighing and shaking my head.

There are some good elements in the film which should have been built upon.  The dead tree clearing.  The stag's antlers.  The antler tunnel.  With these alone, a good writer should be able to form a story to chill the bones.

If you like horror films or thrillers then stay away from this movie, you won't get anything out of it.  Though if you like dramas with moaning brothers in them... I still wouldn't recommend it.

Movie Review - Dead Heat

Dead Heat

(1988)

Helpern/Meltzer : New World Pictures / Anchor Bay Entertainment / Image Entertainment

7.25 / 10

This was a rare treat to watch.  I had forgotten how good and funny this little horror comedy thriller is.

This is a buddy-buddy cop tale that takes a walk on the Darkside.  While in a shootout with a couple of jewellery store robbers they are amazed when the bad guys just won't lie down dead even though they're dancing a Spandau Ballet in a hail of bullets.  It takes a hand-grenade and a speeding car to bring them down.

It's not until they get the bodies into the morgue that they realise they have already been autopsied...

This is one of the best and funniest Zombie films around.  Back in the glorious '80's the special FX really did go the extra mile.  The scene in the Chinese butcher's shop is hilarious and gruesome as the dead animals come back to life.

However, not everything about this movie is fun.  Around the half way mark the film slows down and the laughs start to disappear... in fact, the story pretty much stops.  It does pick up in the last fifteen minutes of the film but never quite reaches the highs of the first half of the movie.

Both of the lead roles, Treat Williams as Roger Mortis and Joe Piscopo as Doug Bigelow, work well together and this chemistry works well and pretty much holds the film together.  It's when these two aren't together that the movie suffers.  Most of the comedy moments are where these two are working off each other.

Both Darren McGavin (of "Kolchack: The Night Stalker" fame) as Dr Ernest McNab and Vincent Price as Arthur P Loudermilk are underused.  These two could have been utilised a little more in the second half of the film, this may have helped the lift the movie here, making it a little less boring.

Mark Goldblatt, does a good job of utilising the lead actors and bringing out some really good dark comedic moments.

I'd recommend this to anybody who has a dark sense of humour and likes everything horror and Zombi.  Still one of my favourites of the '80's even with the stale second half... it has a special place in my heart.

Video Nasty - Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

(1974)

Original Title - Non Si Deve Profanare Il Sonno Dei Morti

AKA - The Living Dead

AKA - The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue

AKA - Do Not Profane The Sleep Of The Dead

AKA - Don't Open The Window

Star Films SA / Flaminia Produzioni Cinematografiche : Anchor Bay Entertainment / Blue Underground

7.75 / 10

As you can see the film goes under many names though I chose the "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" as this is the translation of the original Italian and better suits the film than all the rest.  However, I believe that "The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue" is one of the most popular names used - once I'd watched the film I thought the title misleading as we never get to the Manchester Morgue.

This is definitely a film of its time and not just for the low budget or dodgy acting but for the context.  The dead reanimator is an experimental low-frequency radiation emitting pest controller, which our anti-hero keeps telling people that they shouldn't trust it.  We also shouldn't trust the police to do their job correctly.  I remember these being the underlying feelings of quite a few people in the 1970's.  It's a shame it got banned because it could have had quite a following for these ideologies alone.

What you have is your standard fare of Italian horror, though this time, transferred into the English countryside.  If you were in doubt that this is England the Director punches it home in the opening sequence as our anti-hero, George Meaning (Ray Lovelock) rides through the countryside on his Norton.  When he pulls into a garage for supplies our heroine Edna (poor lass) Simmonds (Cristina Galbo) reverses into the Norton in her Mini.  From here on out they are pretty much joined at the hip as he commands her to take him to Windermere because it's the least she could do... then he jumps into the driver's seat since he doesn't want to go there in reverse.

George is a bullish man who likes to command everybody and isn't afraid to speak out and let everybody know how he feels.  There are sometimes that you would love to hit this guy for being so rude, though most of the time it made me giggle.

As with most Italian Horror Films, the dubbing is pretty atrocious, however, it does give it a strange kind of ambience, maybe I've watched too many and I've grown fond of the sub-genre.  Jorge Grau does a satisfying job of bringing the story, wrote by Sandro Continenza and Marcello Coscia, to the screen.  He creates nice tension as the film progresses.  You can feel the uneasiness that Edna feels when she first sees the dead homeless man Guthrie Wilson for the first time.  This scene reminded me of Romero's Night Of The Living Dead, though it's not a rip-off more of a tribute as the rest of the film try to add something to the Zombie folklore, such as the way other cadavers can be resurrected.

On the whole, the acting is okay, though the dubbing does detract from the actor's skills because their voices don't feel like they're their own.  The only character who appeared to have his own voice was The Inspector.  The trouble was that Arthur Kennedy who portrayed him is American and his accent was a mix of Irish, Scottish, and American, he never quite landed on just one.  This made his character unintentionally humourous at times.

I've always like the Italian FX as they really know how to deliver the gory goods.  For me, the tearing apart of the Hospital Nurse come receptionist was the best.  There were rumours of a scene where a Zombie eats an eyeball, I think this is the church scene; a policeman is food for the zombies and you see his face sans eye, then you get a shot of Granny-Z popping something into her mouth, though you don't see what.  It would have been so good to have that shot.

All-in-All it's not a bad movie though it has its flaws it's still worth a watch.  If only half the horrors today were like this then I'd be happy.

Nergling - The Video Nasties Scare - The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue

Movie Review - Wicked Little Things

Wicked Little Things

(2006)

Millennium Films / Nu Image / Sandstorm Films : After Dark Films / Sony Pictures Entertainment / Lionsgate Home Entertainment

7.75 / 10

The main reason to watch this film would be the story as it gives a refreshingly fresh take on the Zombie genre.

The Carlton's had owned the land for generations. On that land were forests, houses, and a mine.  Deep in the mine were buried the Carlton's darkest injustice.  But some transgressions don't stay buried...  These ones are on the hunt for retribution.

The Carlton's used child labour down in their mine and one day an avoidable incident caused the deaths of most of the youngsters.  Carlton was cleared of any wrongdoing and was never prosecuted for the deaths.  The event was ruled a tragic accident.

Wanting revenge, the children now walk the woods looking for Carlton and his bloodline...

Enter Karen (Lori Heuring) and her two daughters, Sarah (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Emma (Chloe Grace Moretz), who move into a property on Carlton land.  The house had been left to their husband and father, who had passed away leaving them in enough debt that they had to sell their home.  The house is one of the most oppressive I've ever seen.  It's dark and foreboding.  The door is open and blood has been painted on the door.

It's not long before Emma has made a friend in Mary...  The trouble is, nobody else can see Mary.

The director, J S Cardone (of The Slayer - reviewed on this blog) does a winning job of creating atmosphere, tension, and suspense at all the right times in the movie.  The night scenes in the moonlit woods are lovely, verging on beautiful, they do give an eerie feel to the location and situation.  However, as I stated in the review to The Slayer, it appears he also likes dark houses.  It's actually brighter outside in the woods by moonlight than it is in the house with all the lights burning.  It's just as annoying here that the light of an electric bulb only radiates a couple of feet.  There are some wonderful iconic and haunting shots of the children in their miner's garb carrying their work tools, which they use to dispatch anybody they run into.

The actors all give good performances, though, at times, both Ben Cross as Aaron Hanks and Martin McDougall as Mr Carlton ham it up, but they do reign in the piggies after a short while.  Not one actor or actress stands out above the rest, they are all fair at making their characters believable.  Though I do have a fondness for Geoffrey Lewis, especially after the hauntingly eerie rocking chair scene in Salam's Lot that stays with me today.  He is good as the irascible plumber Harold.

It's the story that's the star in this film, though, and that is a very unusual thing to say about a horror film.  It's the fresh take on the Zombie mythos, in some ways it harpers back to the original Zombie, where a spell or a curse would resurrect the dead.  They then become unstoppable until the curse is lifted has run its course.  The course here is the revenge of the children on the Carlton bloodline.

I would recommend this to all horror fans or the casual viewer looking for something respectable in the genre.  You could do worse.

Movie Review - Bedeviled

Bedeviled

(2016)

Circle 18 / Conduit / StandOff Pictures : Film & TV House / GEM Entertainment

1 / 10

Oh dear, this was painful to watch, in so many ways.

First off, let me say, I liked the premise of this film.  A killer app!

Shame that's all it has going for it, the writers and directors, Abel and Burlee Vang, missed so many opportunities to create a good horror film here and were lax with what they had.

The directors don't even try to build any tension or create any kind of atmosphere.  They rely too heavily on crescendos to make the audience jump.  When I say heavily it was at every chance they had - somebody reaches for a shoulder (BA BAA), a shadow passes by (BA BAA), a door opens (BA BAA), a camera pans (BA BAA), a gnat farts (BA BAA) - and they're turned up to 11.  Hey, Guys!  It's NOT your movie that scares people, it's the volume that makes them jump - It's not the same thing.

Then there's the apps name; "Mr Bedeviled"; I take it the college students aren't taking English are they(?)  Or they would be a little more cautious in using the app.  Then there's the fact that it auto-installs on their phones.  I don't know about you but if something auto-installed on my phone I would be instantly reflashing my phone back to factory presets.

Another thing I found tardy was the stolen ideas.  The scene where granny does "The Grudge" is sad but extremely funny; I'm smiling now just thinking about it.  If I were the Vang's I'd be most embarrassed at their demon who is a pathetic caricature of The Joker, this was really dismaying to see.  I can understand why they just kept showing the smiling mouth the full effect is unintentionally hilarious and the make-up is the poorest I've seen.

However, the actors do a passable job with their characters and cope with the bad script in their stride.  They at least worked for their money.

I hope somebody takes the idea of this story and decides to do it justice as this could be one hell of a story and one hell of a movie.   At the moment it's just hell.

Movie Title - The Possession Experiment

The Possession Experiment

(2016)

Digital Thunderdome : Momentum Pictures / Entertainment One

4 / 10

It appears to me, that at this moment in time, writers and directors are struggling to portray a decent horror story.  This is another of those films that should have been much better.  Once again it's a nice idea - A theology student decides to do his thesis on Exorcism, though while investigating he has the idea of getting an entity to possess him and then carry out an exorcism online.  You know things are going to go wrong, though the main thing that went wrong with this movie was the acting and the directing.

Though, for the opening sequence, which is a flashback with Bill Moseley as Father Mark Campbell trying to exorcise a demon from the body of a woman, it pretty good.  I even settled down to enjoy the movie.  Not long into the second scene where we're introduced to Brandon Jensen, it becomes evident that the atmosphere previously built up has disappeared.  Worst still, it never comes back.  It's as if there are two directors working on this film instead of just Scott B Hansen.  All the flashback sequences are the best if they'd kept the same grimy dark atmosphere this would have been a better film.

Bill Moseley is, by far, the best thing about this film (shame he's not in it too long), and he outshines all of the other actors.  The actors struggle to make their characters believable, even likeable, most of the time the come across as flat and uninteresting.

The direction suffers from the hit-and-miss with creating and holding tension as well as managing action scenes credibly.  Though I know Hansen can do it, as the flashbacks are evidence to.  Not sure why the other sections of the film fail.

Not worth watching unless you're into exorcism and there's nothing on telly.

Movie Review - The Windmill Massacre

The Windmill

(2016)

ETA Films / Pellicola / Global Film Partners : Kaleidoscope Film Distribution / XLrator Media

8.5 / 10

What a treat this was, a modern horror film that knows what it's doing thanks to writer and director Nick Jongerious, along with fellow writers Chris W Mitchell and Suzy Quid.  We have a group of tourists in Amsterdam - If there's a sequel I vote for the title The Amsterdammed - who have signed up to have a tour of Holland and its windmills.

While on the tour, Jennifer, who is taking antipsychotics, sees a man and forces the driver to stop the coach.  When she gets out to see if they had run the man over nobody is there.  The bus then fails to start.  Jennifer and another passenger, Jackson, take it upon themselves to walk through the wood to the windmill in the near distance.   The bad news for them is that there's a killer lurking in the woods...

From here on in you begin to learn the dark secrets of the tourists and the windmill in the woods.

Nick creates tension at the right times as well as playing the tourists fears and anxieties off of each other.

It's a good cast of characters and all the actors do splendid jobs of portraying their part.  Moreover, they are realistic and believable.  I particularly liked the coach driver, Abe (Bart Klever).  I've been on a few tours and this guy was spot-on.  Charlotte Beaumont is brilliant as the Austrailian, Jennifer, she doesn't go over the top with the accent but keeps it nice and subtle.

Where the story excels and raises the bar for other horror films are the incidental details...

Takashi Kido is a Japanese tourist who cannot speak English or Dutch, however, it's Ruby Rousseau who translates for him as she had picked up some Japanese while there modelling.  I like the fact that even when Ruby isn't around Takashi still tries to get his point across.  Then there's Doctor Nicholas Cooper (Noah Taylor) who informs everyone to beware of Jennifer as she's on medication.  Douglas and Curt West are Father and Son.  Curt is trying to form a relationship with his father, though Doug is too busy with business phone calls.

It's these dynamics and the relationships, along with the storyline, which creates an enjoyable and watchable film.

Another nice detail is that whenever anyone is dispatched, they are done so in a way that befits their dark secret.  The special effects are very good Douglas West's is particularly well thought out and nasty, as is Ruby's demise.

This is one well thought out movie that I would recommend to all.

Video Nasty - The Boogey Man

The Boogey Man

(1980)

The Jerry Gross Organisation : Anchor Bay Entertainment / 88 Films

4.25 / 10

This another one of those movies that make me feel sad as it could have been so much better had the writer, director and producer, Ulli Lommel, spent a little more time on it.  I can say this in fairness as the story is pretty sound and there are some good original bits in the movie.  Though what you get is a lacklustre movie which steals shots and feeling from other movies to ignite the viewers fear.  The opening panning shot to the front of the house is very reminiscent of John Carpenter and Halloween, even the soundtrack is very similar to Carpenter's style, as well as the Phantasm movies.  The two protagonists of the film move in with their aunt and uncle on their farm... the farmhouse looks to have had the same architect as the Amityville house and in the end sequence all the windows glow red.

These rip-offs scream of laziness.  However, I liked the idea of a killer trapped in a mirror until the mirror is smashed and his soul is released to kill again.  I think Lommel missed a major scene here.  Instead of starting the film with the mother and her lover getting frisky as the kids spied on them.  He should have started with the lover killing somebody on the way to his rendezvous with the mother.  This would have added a depth to the "killer" character.  As it is he's just a man wearing a stocking over his head... not really boogey man material... would he really go on a killing spree?  This actually weakens the story as it's hard to believe.

As for the special FX, these are hit and miss and I think the budget was spent on the more gruesome FX, though on the whole, they're more than passable.  I particularly like the bathroom death sequence, especially the death by scissors, and the teenagers "kiss of death" in the mustang.

The direction, for the most part, is okay.  Lommel does create tension at times, there could have been more of it though.  Some are obvious so it doesn't really work, like when Will is in the barn as a pitchfork gets ready to impale him.  The pitchfork raises and hangs in the air for an eternity before his sister Lacey arrives to save him.  If this had been trimmed down it would have worked much better, it's just too long.

As for the acting... well, the best actors are the three kids who are in the original house where the murder took place.  They actually do a good portrayal of brother and sisters.  Their interaction is spot-on, each has their own life but still interact with each other.  They're in the movie for only a few minutes, though this section is the best in the whole film.

Lacey is portrayed by Suzanna Love (who also part scripted the screenplay), who takes woodenness to a new level - Suzanna Love Oak.  The only person worse than her is the guy playing her brother, Will, Nicholas Love.  For most of the movie he's mute, a psychological reaction to the murder, so you would think he would act using his body and facial expressions...  Don't be silly.  At times it looks like he's taken root.  His stand-in could have been a store mannequin.

The other actors are average and really try to do their best with speeches, which at times, are awkward and unconvincing.  Even John Carradine cannot add any credence to this film.

This is a movie for die hard horror fans.  I watch films like this to find the hidden treasure in a quagmire of rubbish.  It could be a good actor, an outstanding scene, or an effect that is well thought out and executed.  Sometimes there's no treasure... but most of the time, like this film, there a couple of things.

Nergling - The Video Nasties Scare - The Boogey Man

Video Nasty - The Slayer

The Slayer

(1982)

The International Picture Show Company : 21st Century Film Corporation / Continental Video / Marquis Video

7.5 / 10

So I thought I would revisit my youth and have a "look see" at the films I couldn't watch then because, for censorship reasons, they were banned.

I cannot understand why The Slayer received the "Video Nasty" distinction, yes there are gory scene's though nothing too untoward for a horror movie, especially from the 1980's.  I think it might be the necrophilia overtones in one scene, but hey, she doesn't know he's dead!

That said, this film ticked all the boxes for what I look for in a horror movie - a spooky atmosphere and location - characters and situations that are believable (excluding the supernatural and paranormal elements) - tension and a feeling of unease - decent to brilliant FX (no unrealistic CGI here).

The story concerns two couples who decide to vacation on a remote and, at this time of year, uninhabited island, to get away from the stresses of modern life and take a breather.  Kay is an artist who has started to have a reoccurring nightmare, which she used to have as a child.  David is her husband and he's on the island to take photographs as well as to fish.  Eric is Kay's brother, he arranged the vacation through a colleague at work who told him about the splendid fishing the island provides.  Brooke is his wife, who has come along reluctantly, an isolated island is not her idea of fun.

Once they've been dropped at the island the pilot warns them of an oncoming storm as storms hit hard there and come at you from all directions.  Heeding his warning they choose to stay.  Once the storm hits and the rain falls and the lightning tears open the sky, one-by-one the holidayers are killed off in gruesome ways.  My favourite of which is the pitchfork.

So this appears to be your usual run of the mill slasher film...  It Isn't!

It's not a slasher film at all.  This is why:  I make this differentiation:  A slasher film to me is Chopping Mall, Visiting Hours, Friday The 13th, the type of movie where the murderer is human, commonly a psychopath, and goes on a killing spree, usually with very sharp weapons.  This puts it into the Thriller genre.

Therefore I do not classify the Halloween movies, the Friday The 13th Films (the ones with Jason as the killer), or A Nightmare On Elm Street saga as slashers.  These are true horror films with elements of the supernatural and paranormal. 

It's the ending of this film that plants this firmly into the Horror genre.

This is J S Cardone's first directing job and it's a pretty decent endeavour.  He creates a nice uneasiness throughout the film which adds to the suspense and tension.  The only thing which irked me was the darkness.  I know directors use the darkness to try and build tensity in their film, though sometimes like here, it's just too dark.  Even when lanterns and torches are lit the light they give off is minimal, to say the least.  I don't remember them being that bad back then.

The acting is average and, as was the case back then as well as sometimes now, relies too much on screams.  I've never screamed and I don't know anybody who has... yelled and jumped in fright... but never screamed and never like they do in horror films.  As I said, I liked the FX in the pitchfork death scene, though the screaming from the actress is really annoying.  It is almost laughable as she screams continuously while trying to get away and breaking a window... you hardly hear the glass break above her screams...  this girl can sure wail...

If you're a horror fan, as I am, then you will enjoy this twisted and gory tale of dreams come true.  Well worth watching on a dark night with the lights off.

Nergling - The Video Nasties Scare - The Slayer

Movie Review - Exorcist: House Of Evil

Exorcist: House Of Evil

(2016)

Spiritus Mundi : 4Digital Media

5.75 / 10

Everybody knows the film The Exorcist (1973) which was based on the brilliant novel by William Peter Blatty.  The author based his story on the exorcism of Roland Doe in 1949 in Cottage City, Maryland.  This film is based upon those real events and the people involved.  They even feature the real house in which the exorcisms took place.

Though this is a low budget film, writer and director David Trotti does a good job of building on the original story by bringing in a new couple to the house.  The house has stood empty for years, only vandals have entered to tag their names on the walls.  Then enter Amy who is one of the last surviving members of the family.  She doesn't believe in the evil all she sees is a house ready to be lived in.  Though before she and her fiance Luke can even move in strange things start to happen...

The story that Trotti gives us is strong and believable; if you believe in evil, daemons, and devils that is.

What surprised me the most is the level of skill the actors bring to the movie.  Amy Holland Pennell portrays Amy very well, bringing the character a depth of strength and surety, which is put to the test throughout the film.  Mark Holzum as Luke does a wonderful job of portraying a loving fiance who is having doubts about his girlfriend's sanity and the possibility of the evil which lurks in the house.  Connor Trinneer plays Gordon, Amy's cousin, and shows a warm and caring compassion towards her.  Peter Mayer gives a wonderful portrayal of Father Halloran who goes from pure fear at just the thought of the house and the exorcism which took place there to controlled fear when he realises that Amy needs his help.

The story does suffer from a slow midsection, which I can forgive as this is his true first writing and directing debut, but it does pick up for a worthy and respectable ending.  The worst thing about the movie though is the camera work.  There are sections where the camera shakes so much it's practically vomit-inducing and really spoils the movie.

There are some nice parts to the story and the film which make this a watch once movie if you're interested in possession and exorcism or The Exorcist story, which I was.  I may even watch it again sometime, though not in the near future.

Movie Review - XX

XX

(2017)

Snowfort Pictures / Scythia Films / XYZ Films : Magnet Realeasing

6.25 / 10

This is a wonderful concept four stories directed by four women - and in that respect, much kudos for the poster artwork, sexy Lip-Skull-Kiss.

I'll break this down into the four short films, but let me say that the Dark Fantasy, stop-motion, animation segue's that tie the stories together is superb and quite haunting, in its own right.

The Box - Penned by Jack Ketchum is the best film of the four.  Jovanka Vuckovic wrote the screenplay as well as directing the film.  She does a good job of bringing a tenseness to the whole tale of a family going through a mysterious trauma after her son looks into an ambiguous present a stranger is holding, on his lap, on the subway train.  From that moment on he stops eating.

Vuckovic did a good job of casting as all the actors and actresses in the story do a commendable job of portraying their characters, along with their feelings.  Jonathon Watton is especially believable as the dad, Robert Jacobs, who is scared, angry, worried, and concerned for the safety and future of his son.  Whereas his wife, Susan Jacobs, suitable portrayed by Natalie Brown, distances herself from the happenings and troubles in her family... until it's too late.  Though one of best characterisations comes from Michael Dyson who is brilliant as the man on the train with the mysterious present; right from the moment he turns his head to look at the boy, you know this isn't going to end well.  There's something dark and ominous about the man in the black fedora.

Liked this film a lot and though you never know what's in the box... I really don't want to find out.

The Box - 8/10

The Birthday Party - This segment was written and directed by St. Vincent (AKA Annie Clark).  For me, this is the weakest of the four stories and isn't even a horror story.  What you have in this little story is a poor relative to "A Weekend At Bernie's", without the dark humour.  A rich woman wakes up in her big house and is getting the place ready for her daughters birthday when she stumbles across the dead body of her husband, who she thought had been out all night.  Instead of calling the police she decides to hide the body from their daughter and the nanny.  What's worse is that if you didn't actually get the joke, Clark decides to literally spell it out to the audience in the way of a two-part chapter heading- this is when my heart sank even further.  I won't even mention the characters except that a more unbelievable cast I have never seen.

The Birthday Party - 1/10

Don't Fall - This is a strange title for the story as it has nothing to do with falling.  What writer and director Roxanne Benjamin gives you is an action tale of possession.  While out hiking, four friends come across a strange petroglyph on a rock.  That evening one of their group goes missing...  The bad thing about this story is there's no atmosphere, no feeling of terror or horror that something supernatural is occurring.  There was plenty of instances within the story where Benjamin could have created tension but no she went for all out action.  This was a waste of a story - it could have been so much more.  The acting was average and the actresses who played Gretchen, Breeda Wool, made her too irritating. 

Don't Fall - 5/10

Her Only Living Son - Karyn Kusama is the writer and director of this bright tale of darkness.  I liked the fact she tells most of this story about a boy's eighteenth birthday and his right-of-passage into more than just manhood out of the shadows of night and in the brightness daylight.  This is a difficult thing to do as horror and tension lead itself to darker arenas.   It's the strangeness of the characters and their actions, as well as some situations, that give the feeling something isn't quite right in this town.  I would have liked a little more tension and oppressive feeling, given the ending and the reveal, but on the whole, Kusama does a good job.  The characters are believable, I particularly liked the postman, Chet, portrayed well by Mike Doyle.

Her Only Living Son - 6.5/10

I would recommend this film for The Box and the segue, though only to die hard horror fans that can sit through the bad bits.

Movie Review - Septic Man

Septic Man

(2013)

Foresight Features : Starz Digital Media / Anchor Bay Entertainment

3.5 /10

This film is a missed opportunity.  The writer should have sped up Jack's transformation into the Septic Man, then let him loose on the township.  However what you have is a meandering story of Jack who gets trapped in a water treatment plant where two maniacal killers are using one of the sluices as a dumping ground for body parts, which is causing mass contamination of a township's water supply, and his transformation... along with an awful amount of vomit.

I watched this film as I had previously viewed Pontypool, which was written by the same writer, Tony Burgess.  That was an original horror movie based on a noise created virus affecting people.  On that, I took a chance on this.

... and wish I hadn't.  The two movies are similar in a couple of ways, as that they basically revolve around one man.  In Pontypool, it's the DJ in his booth, Stephen McHattie (who gives a cameo in Septic Man as the Mayor), who gives a believable performance and is helped with tight direction.

In Septic man, Jack, portrayed badly and unbelievably by Jason David Brown, is hindered with bad direction, from Jesse Thomas Cook, and strange and implausible characters, especially the killer brothers.  Even Molly Dunsworth gives a lacklustre interpretation of Jacks dowdy, browbeaten, pregnant wife; I've seen her in other roles, such as Haven, and she can do so much better.  And genre regular, Julian Richings, feels like he's turned up on site and read his lines.  It's nice to hear his original English accent.

This is a dull and boring film, for the most time, though the special effects when Septic Man starts to become are pretty nice and gruesome - respect to The Brothers Gore.  The scene where Jack peels back the skin on his arm is cringe-making.

There is so much of Troma's Toxic Avenger in this movie.  By the end of the movie, Septic Man looks like a more up-to-date, bigger budget, Toxi.  Regrettably, it's not as good.

Check out the trailer below, but be aware that this in itself is a work of art, and bears little or now resemblance to the actual pace and feel of the movie.

Bet you'd like to see that movie - Me Too!!!

Here's the film's opening sequence, probably the best part of the movie - and has NOTHING to do with the film or story at all.  Just another way to drag you into a crappy movie.

Movie Review - Nightmare On Elm Street

A Nightmare On Elm Street

(2010)

New Line Cinema / Platinum Dunes : New Line Cinema / Warner Home Video

2.25 / 10

Once, the production house of New Line Cinema meant new and groundbreaking films, especially the Nightmare On Elm Street Series, and excluding the terrible part VI - Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, were pretty decent at doing that.

So they decide to try and breath life into a long dead Kruger and bring the nightmares back to life for a new set of fans...

... er... 

No.

This is a travesty of a reboot.  

Mistake number one - they try to remake the first film with a few "adjustments" to the storyline to make it fresh and bring it up to date.  This isn't fully utilised, as we're living in a modern world with internet, cell phones, and all types of other gizmo's that should have featured in the nightmare-scapes of Krueger's victims.  See the tongue, out of the phone in the original part two, Freddy's Revenge, and Freddy's knives becoming syringes in the original part three, Dream Warriors.

Mistake number two - Bad direction, Samuel Bayer relies on sound bursts way too much to make his audience jump.  This is sloppy directing.  With a story most people know, if you're not going to give your audience something new then you have to do a good job of being able to really scare them.  There's NO build up of tension or suspense and this creates a lack of atmosphere that was very tangible in the original run.

Mistake number three - Bad characterisation.  None of the cast appears to have any depth, they all feel more two-dimensional than three.  This isn't too bad a thing with the minor characters, but with the main characters, it's essential to create empathy and to feel sadness and terror when their situations take a turn for the worst.  The major calamity in this instance is Freddy Krueger, where Robert England made it his own, Jackie Earle Haley comes nowhere near.  This is more than a shame as Haley is a good actor, who did a splendid job as Rorschach in Watchmen.  If he had produced a character similar in mannerisms, as the Nightmare Krueger, this would have helped make him a more terrifying and powerful character, which Freddy IS.  However, this Freddy isn't anybody to be scared of Robert England is still KING!

Everything that a horror film should be is missing from this movie.

What could have made the movie better?

Do Not remake the first film; use a completely different story.  Skipp and Spector, two great horror writers helped pen the original part five, The Dream Child.  It was also reported they'd wrote a story for the sixth film, "Bastard Son Of A Thousand Maniacs",  which is one hell of a title and it went all the way back to Freddy's conception.  This would have been an awesome place to start.  Add in better characterisations and you're on your way.

Then you would have to get a director that understood horror, terror, and suspense, as well as Wes Craven, did.

Next, add imagination, which was rife in the original series... a bed cloth twisting and turning itself into a noose, a boy's veins pulled out of his body to make him a human puppet.  Come on people nightmares are people's imagination dropped into the Darkside.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, save your money... or better yet spend it on buying the original film series box set and see how it should be done.