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.

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