Just Watched Movies (2010)

[Bartwald]

I'm sure Phoenix didn't mean to offend anyone, Fenril - just a bad choice of a word, that's all.

Last movie I saw: Four Nights With Anna directed by Essential Killing's helmer Jerzy Skolimowski. An odd yet very beautiful movie. If you can rent it somewhere - go for it.

[slayrrr666]

Fangs of the Werewolf-Mexican werewolf tale, about a man cursed to turn into a werewolf after removing the stones from a statue and who is only stopped by the love of a woman. The attacks are pretty bloody, the make-up is certainly fine and it's pretty atmospheric at times with a lot of really fun attack scenes and stalking ones here and there.

Killer Bees-A UN scientist and a woman race to stop a group of killer bees after they escaped from a research lab in South America before they reach the US. People out there who claim that The Swarm is the cheesiest killer bee movie of all time needs to seriously check this one out, it's got it topped in just about every area. Pure 70s exploitative fun at it's best, just can't beat this one.

The Man and the Beast-A professor's research into a new chemical process releases a murderous madman personality of his that dates back to his ancestor's very similar experiments. Mexican Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde effort, more boring period drama than actual horror without much of any horror going on.

Grave Robbers-A group of friends release a disturbed monk killed hundreds of years ago and must then stop his blood-soaked rampage through the countryside. Phenomenal slasher effort, with everything you could want: outstanding stalking scenes dripping with suspense, gore-drenched kills, an imposing killer, atmosphere galore, cheese, action, spectacle, it has it all. Flawless work here.

[slayrrr666]

Kill Theory-A group of friends on a relaxing weekend vacation are forced into a deadly game with a madman wherein he will only let them leave the house if they kill each other and the last one alive will be set free, causing long-boiling tensions and anxieties to force them into unwittingly playing his game. Yet another ungodly lame Saw rip-off, as once again our serial killer manages to never once harm anyone unless it dictates he do something, the single lamest reason ever for a killer's rampage, and the seemingly endless scenes of everyone going on and on about their past which just turn aggravating after a while. About the only thing that saves this is the gore, which is nice, but otherwise, this was a massive disappointment.

Assault of the Sasquatch-After unwittingly bringing it to the city, a police squad and the hunters who captured it must stop a monstrous Bigfoot who is running loose through the area as well as keeping a tab on the criminals it's rampage frees. A lot better than it sounds, though there's some huge nagging problems here: the insistence on a group of over-the-top Sasquatch enthusiasts who go around asking strangers on the street if they've seen the creature but provide nothing of any substance to the film, a decided lack of action in the middle segment and a rather lame premise to get Bigfoot into the city. I've seen worse, but man, I had wanted to see this one for a while.

[slayrrr666]

Secrets in the Walls-Newly divorced, a woman and her two teenage daughters move into a grand house and come to discover someone else is living there that has dangerous plans for the group. Typical Lifetime style haunted house film, filled with all the usual prerequisites for the genre: long stretches of time without any horror angles merely to have the clunkiest excuse possible to make us remember we're watching one to begin with, build-up to a drama rather than horror and too many useless elements merely meant for women to be hooked into watching that have no bearing on the plot as a whole, but yet, due to some rather nice ghost action and a moderately decent mystery make for some decent times here and there.

The Dead Will Tell-After receiving an antique engagement ring from her fiancee, a woman's visuals of a ghost following her lead her to discover a startling secret about the past and it's rightful owner. Another Lifetime styled ghost movie, only this one feels a little more like a solid horror film in that it gets out and about rather than just being confined to one place like they usually are. Again, more of the usual problems associated with these films, but again, the fact that the ghost action here isn't bad makes it somewhat decent and not all that offensive altogether.

[Bartwald]

Saw Red today - great action scenes and some fine acting, especially from Mirren (looking sexy, yeah), Malkovich and Urban. Bruce was good, too, though in his typical can't-stop-smirking way.

Still waiting for that review of Red, Brad - I want to post it at The Site, too.

[slayrrr666]

Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound-Incorrectly listed as horror in my guide when it's instead an incredibly stupid Sci-Fi film instead, about a scientist from the future traveling back in time to visit Dr. Frankenstein and giving him the knowledge of the future to allow him to resurrect the monster he's created. Very little of interest beyond the creature's rampage in the last ten minutes, the rest is just an utter bore with each of them trying to sound more intelligent than the other but coming off as massive pricks instead due to them not doing anything but talk. Really disappointing.

[slayrrr666]

Halloween fare:
The Curse of Frankenstein
The Revenge of Frankenstein
Frankenstein Created Woman
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Mr. Sardonicus
The Terror
Red: Werewolf Hunter
Holla
Within
Vacancy

[knightofcydonia]

Paranormal Activity 2......does what it's supposed to

[Bartwald]

Saw this, too. I liked the original better but was surprised at how neatly they tied the two films (although to say that for sure I'd have to rewatch the first one). And yeah, it was quite tense here and there.

[slayrrr666]

Sightings: Heartland Ghost-The crew of a skeptical paranormal research show encounters an actual ghost in a house they were called out to investigate and are inspired to figure out the cause of why it got there, leading them into a gruesome battle with a spirit intent on keeping it a secret. Actually not all that bad, pretty decent in spots and had an effective air of mystery about it, just too bad it forgot about it's haunting scenes and made the middle an investigation rather than spread it out, so it tends to drag on before it starts up again and feels rather clunky because of that, but there's certainly a lot worse out there in the genre.

[slayrrr666]

Drag Me to Hell-When a young woman denies help to an old woman at her bank, her actions force a curse of demonic intensity that soon force her into grave and dangerous acts in order to save herself. The atmosphere is great, the thrills are fine and there's plenty of action since it doesn't really slow down all that much, but frankly, there's certainly parts here that need fixing. Basing your entire collection of scares and jump scenes around the exact same ploy, having the music stinger accompany it turned up from a 5 to a 10 on the sound, grows tiring and shows a discernible lack of imagination through and through. I'll say this though, one of the better twist endings that's not only logical, but works well.

Jennifer’s Body-When her best friend begins acting totally different than what she's used her, a girl finds that she's been used by a rock band as a sacrifice for their success and is responsible for the bloodsoaked rampage through town, forcing her to stop it. Much better than I expected, with some nice suspenseful moments, enough bloodletting that it satisfies and a rather nice build-up, but it's utterly ruined by the constant attempts at introducing cool lingo for the sake of it and being more of a tease than an exploitation film it should've been. Still, not all that bad.

[slayrrr666]

The Devil’s Ground-After nearly running her over, a woman on a backwoods road picks up a young hitchhiker who recounts a terrifying story about her and her friends being hunted in the woods by a deranged psycho, but when problems in her story arise, she finds the truth far more terrifying than she imagined. Some suspenseful moments, a great mystery and some fun to be had in the second half, just utterly ruined by a relatively weak killer, tons of flaws in the kill scenes and a cliche denouement. Not terrible and this one definitely had it's problems, but it's pretty decent at times.

Sam’s Lake-When a group of friends take a trip up to a lakeside cabin for a weekend of relaxing and resting, they find that one of them is the sibling of a local murderer carrying on their work and must stop their rampage before all of them are killed. A bit worse than the first one, this one here was really weak and really didn't have a whole lot worthy about it. From a lame premise to utterly terrible kill scenes to a second half that has nothing of importance ringing through it and topped off taking forever to even get up to it's twist, this one here is incredibly lame.

Maneater-A sheriff and his deputies try to protect townspeople from a ravenous tiger that has escaped from a local zoo and begun rampaging on their citizens. Not a whole lot new here, just added an uncensored version of the film to the collection. New commercial breaks, more swearing and some uncut gore, not a bad time.

Drive-Utterly phenomenal action film, about a cyborg going on the run from his makers and teaming up with a cab driver when his bosses order him terminated. Like all good action movies, it's simply an excuse to throw out a never-ending series of confrontations possible, and those are simply awesome. From some of the greatest non-HK quality wire-fu fighting to shootouts, car-chases, foot chases, crashes and motorboat chasing to more, this one is a lot of fun and enjoyable, plus it doesn't really hurt to have a good dose of comedy as well. A great time here.

[slayrrr666]

Return to House on Haunted Hill-When a group of thugs break into their home looking for a clue to find hidden treasure buried in a supposedly haunted house, the group and their hostages encounter a swarm of ravenous ghosts inside the house guarding the treasure and killing everyone who has ever set foot inside. A lot better than expected and a lot of fun at times. Great looking ghosts, over-the-top kills and a wonderfully creepy atmosphere through a great location for letting mayhem loose, makes this a lot of fun. Some slight pacing problems early on, but nothing detrimental.

[Bartwald]

Nov 5, 2010 10:16:55 GMT -5 slayrrr666 said:

Drag Me to Hell-...I'll say this though, one of the better twist endings that's not only logical, but works well.

I liked the twist, too, but somebody in the cinema spoiled it for me by screaming "It's the XXXXX!" early on, so the whole last act of the movie was kind of devoid of tension because of that. Damn, sometimes it IS better to watch horror movies alone from a DVD!

[slayrrr666]

Yeah, that is a lot of fun to just be alone by yourself the first time you see something. Works a lot of the time.

How to Make a Monster-After a strange spate of murders, the investigation into the events leads the police to believe that a recently-fired special effects master his created a series of monsters from his past projects and is instructing them to carry out his vengeance on those who wronged him, leading them to stop his plans before they continue. Pretty cheesy, especially in the monster make-up, a lot of studio in-jokes that are quite fun and a few creepy scenes here and there, but the attacks are all the same and the middle turns into a police investigation film that shows them as completely incompetent since there's ample evidence to support the main characters as the villains, and with the lack of attacks it's quite dull. The finale is fun since it's shot in color, but looks more like a gimmick than anything else.