Just Watched Movie (2011)

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Witches Night-While out camping in the woods, a group of friends trying to help one get over a devastating break-up find themselves targeted by a group of witches looking to use them as the victims in a Satanic sacrificial ceremony and try to get away before it's too late. Not too bad and definitely has it's moments, but not a whole lot, which is kinda surprising since this one had the potential to be really good and enjoyable with a fine set-up and some pretty decent moments that come about because of it. The problem really lies, though, in it's unseemly running time that makes this one far, far longer to get to it's main point than it really should, spending too long with the group out in the woods than it should and making the witch's coven come about too late to really get a full handle on it all. The scenes with them are too few to mean anything, and we really only get one ceremony scene from about 50 feet away, making even less of an impression than it could've. Still, the curses befallen the men are fun, there's some good gore and nudity and it has some fun in the finale to make up for everything, but too little too late.

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Showdown at Area 51-When an alien crashlands in Area 51, a former soldier and his girlfriend try to help the being recover a device stolen from a rival alien species that will annihilate Earth before it can launch the initial codes for it to happen. Not a whole lot here that really wowed me over, feeling more like a sci-fi film than a true horror with the aliens almost humanoid and not beasts, the focus on the recovery rather than the graphic kills (and it's not like the ones we did get were very violent anyway) and the large sections of time devoted to the unraveling of the mystery surrounding the device instead of the aliens going after people, so as a horror film this one here is sorely lacking and really not worthwhile. Some of the action scenes are pretty nice and get some decent moments in, but this is totally undone by the rather insipid idea that comes in at the very end where the loyalties might be questioned by both sides, yet nothing is done with it and it's incredibly disappointing and confusing. Not a whole lot here to like at all.

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Homecoming-When they arrive at his home town for a big celebration, a man's girlfriend is captured by his psychotic ex and tortured for stealing him away from her while he and his friends race to save her before it's too late. A rather curious thriller, similar to what I suspect Misery to be about but not having seen that I can't say for certain. Not too much to really get into here, a few scenes where something happens but for the most part its more about the crazy girl screaming at her or other lame parts that give off a thriller feel more than a true horror film. Even the final showdown doesn't have a lot going for it and just feels rather tame and limp compared to what could've been, and it just manages to plod along lifelessly instead of generating any interest.

Shaolin Prince-After being separated at birth and forced to learn different forms of martial arts, twin brothers reunite to take on the gang of criminals who murdered their parents so they can legally regain their status in the world. A rousing and highly enjoyable effort here, one of the better kung-fu entries out there based more on quality of fighting than anything else since there's still some work to be done on the other areas of the film. The comedy is pretty lame and generally is more cringe-inducing than gut-busting (though I suspect this is more about execution than concept since the idea behind what happens is usually pretty funny but it never comes off that way on film) and it needs a little more streamlining as it goes around all over the place in terms of plot and such, but still it's a rather nice and enjoyable effort if you're into the choreography and such.

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The Devil's Backbone-While staying at an orphanage during the Spanish Revolution, a young boy learns the truth behind the place's ghostly history and tries to stop the ghost that haunts the place from hurting him and his friends. A grossly overrated film, mainly because there's a decided lack of any actual ghost happenings on-screen for the majority of the film and the film dealing with the rather banal relationships between the boys during the time makes for just utterly slow-going and irritating scenes that go on far too long and have no real element of a horror film involved in them. That we're also forced through numerous other plot elements that serve no purpose for being here (the cheating wife, the relationship between the worker and the daughter, the Revolutionary speeches) all of which serve to take up time for the ghost which is the best part of the film because it's so different from the usual nonsense going on around it. Really, really disappointing.

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Left for Dead-While searching for a deadly bandit that happens to be her husband, a woman joins an all-female posse hunting him down and eventually tracks him to a remote mining town haunted by a vengeful ghost intent on not letting them leave alive. Didn't really get a lot of enjoyment out of this one, mainly due to the fact that there's just not a whole lot of horror elements to go around. Most of the time it's a Western film (it's set in the 1880s, for instance) and while that makes a nice impression as to the uniqueness of the setting, it never really does a lot with it's horror elements. The ghost has a few bits of screen-time, which is fine as it's to dish out the kills or chases around the town, but the majority of the time is spent with the group spouting off at each other or an incredibly lame drama about the relationship between them all, and it just makes it hard to stay invested in the middle. Also problematic is the fact that it tends to show-off some pretty nifty camera tricks that are just plain pointless and irritating, from the slow-motion shots to the never-ending series of flash-effects used during the sequences. Add in more gunshots for the cause of death than anything and it's a disappointing effort overall.

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The Victim-When an aspiring actress is hired by the police to help them film reenactments for various murders, she becomes haunted by the ghost of her most recent assignment and must stop the ghost from running havoc through her friends and her personal life. Probably the most confusing Asian ghost film around that's ever been better than what it should be, as this was a very enjoyable and surprisingly so film. The fact that it gives off a spectacular twist in the second half makes it all the film even better, due to it being so perfectly executed in regards to how the storyline is presented that there's just a lot to like about what happens, even if it is somewhat cliche and doesn't really speak of any originality. Though that does diminish the quantity of the ghost hauntings, it makes up for them with quality ones, having many rather good ghost scenes including the highlight of her confronting the main one in a hallway, only to back away and be confronted with a horde of them clawing at her before the other ghost attacks her amidst the scrum. Others are just as good, and make the rather lengthy running time fly by rather nicely.

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The Ghost of Yotsuya-Tired of living in poverty with his wife, a samurai hatches a scheme to kill her off so he can marry a wealthier woman, but her ghost returns to torment him for the wrongful death. One of an apparently dozen or so adaptations of this particular legend, and I fear that most of them are going to be pretty much similar. The first half of this film has absolutely nothing of any real value as a horror film at all, looking absolutely like a lame drama about the social standing rather than anything to do with a ghost story, and it makes for some utterly boring and not at all interesting times. When the murder happens and the ghostly stuff starts to happen, it gets infinitely better through the use of actually having stuff happening, and with the last part of the film taken up by this, does correct some flaws but not all of them.

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Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus-When a series of reports finds that a gigantic crocodile is loose and laying eggs along the coastal shores of the US, the Navy hires a shark expect to lure to massive Great White Shark to the creature and have them battle to the death in order to keep them from endangering the public. A slight disappointment, as this one could've been overwhelmingly awesome yet has one key fundamental flaw: the action on-screen from the two creatures rarely, if ever, matches up to the scenarios that are presented in the dialog, leaving it rather twisting and confusing when it gets to the action because it rarely matches up. You also have the traditional utterly terrible CGI that comes into play, and in conjunction with those other issues, really strikes this one as lower than it should be considering all the great cheese on display. The CGI action, lame storyline and tons of creature scenes makes this one incredibly enjoyable when it gets to it, and makes for the film's best points.

Clan of the White Lotus-A disgraced fighter recovers from a brutal beating at his sister's house and learns her style of martial arts in order to defeat the master who beat and humiliated him. Yet another in a long line of films where the rather rudimentary plot is simply and excuse to showcase a number of incredibly well-orchestrated and jaw-dropping kung-fu displays, which is what's given here. The plot, though understandable, doesn't really need to be spelled out for as long as it does here, yet it manages to keep it's running time going with several rather lame plotpoints to stay as long as it does, from the scenes in the nursing home and the rather lame comedy attempted there to the pretty agonizing attempts to learn the actual moves, but none of that matters when the fights actually get going which is where it really starts to get fun as there's no shortage of action scenes and most of them are just incredibly fun and enjoyable. Most of the film's rights are presented here and as usual, it's the best part of the film.

[Fenril]

Well, glad you enjoyed "The victim", at least. I found it very interesting, and while lots of bits were pretty unoriginal it had a certain charm to it. I especially liked the scene with the woman dancing in front of a mirror and seemingly summoning a ghost.

Saw "The 39 steps", one of Hitchcock's earlier thrillers. As usual, good cinematography, bits that seem quite ahead of its time (it even plays with the spy genre a bit) and a few narrative tricks he would recicle in his color films. Recommended, then.

[slayrrr666]

Definitely agree on that charm aspect of The Victim, wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did because of those unoriginal moments you mentioned but I found it pretty enjoyable anyway. I much prefered the hallway scene I mentioned in the write-up, one of my favorite ghost-hauntings ever but I like that other scene as well.

Santo in The Vengeance of the Mummy-A masked wrestler is brought along by friends on a journey to recover a mummy's petrified remains, but the party's presence awakens the creature and forces him to protect them from the creatures plans. Another in a selection of masked wrestler movies from Mexico, this one falls just short of the best of the bunch but still has a lot of enjoyment on hand. There's some minor problems in the party taking way too long to get to the tomb, as the Adventure film surroundings seem like time-padding and really only there to feature the titular hero wrestling with animals, but beyond that there's a lot to like here. The camp where all the stalking goes down is pretty decently used for setting up some suspenseful stalking, the grand burial tomb is Gothic splendor and the frequent battling between the two are highly enjoyable and entertaining. The twist ending is a little hard-to-follow in terms of adhering to storyline continuity but makes for a nice touch in the genre overall and it moves along at a nice enough pace to not really be boring. Overall, it's pretty solid.

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The Raven's Mourn-A group of friends gathered together for a friend's funeral find themselves haunted by her ghost who tries to alert everyone that she's not deceased yet. This was probably one of the most disappointing Mexican horror efforts I've seen yet, since this one could've been one of the better ones but instead is pretty flawed. Most of this comes from the fact that there's hardly anything at all going on, from the fact that everyone seems to just stand around talking to everyone about what's going on, and not understanding the language at all, makes for endless scenes of people in a large Gothic mansion yakking away indescribably, which isn't a fun experience. Still, it could've been great from the fact that the ghost materializes into the scenes rather nicely and the opening sequence is a Gothic masterpiece that starts it up wonderfully, but it just doesn't do anything else with it.

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All of Them Witches-A woman begins receiving strange visions after opening a letter containing a mystical powder, and soon thereafter finds it's connected to a voodoo curse and must be stopped before it harms her and her friends. Not really all that spectacular, mostly because it really doesn't do anything at all. While the concept of having bizarre visions may be horrific to those experiencing them, on film they play out so ordinarily and boring that the film appears to be so slow as to be utterly lifeless and uninteresting. Eventually it does get better towards the end when the zombified owner does get around to making an appearance and that leads to some fun in the apartment showdown, and the atmosphere does give off a nice suspenseful vibe, yet the fact remains that this one is just so dull and lifeless.

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The Lost Tribe-When a freak storm leaves them stranded on a secluded island in the middle of the ocean, a group of friends learns it's the home to a tribe of ancient humanoid beings that are responsible for mankind's evolution and try to get off the island before falling victim to the bloodthirsty beings. This was a pretty enjoyable and entertaining effort. A great premise here with a lot of rather good things about it, mainly from the species portrayed within which is rather enjoyable. They're rather cool all around, with a great look, impressive social structure and cool abilities that make for some wonderful stalking scenes in the jungle where it all takes place. The location is fantastic, taking place in the square jungle filled with lots of large trees, huge bushes and lots of rocky outcroppings that allow for lunging out of the darkness, hiding and the like, making for some fine suspense scenes as well as a great place of combat during the last half when they go on the offensive. The gore is great, with lots of savage kills and wounds making for a well-rounded part of the film. Suffers way too much from stupidity-to-remain-in-peril and poor decision-making, but none of that is too detrimental.

Killer Mountain-After being asked to participate in a rescue mission after a disastrous mountain-climbing incident, a man and his team find the area protected by a group of vicious creatures guarding a secret within the mountain and try to get away before falling victim to the ravenous beings. Actually not too bad, definitely has it's good parts as the creatures here are pretty enjoyable creations that are given enough to care about, are woven nicely into the story as it's nice to not see another Bigfoot film despite it appearing very easily as one, and the action scenes are really enjoyable with all the location scenes. Too many subplots here to really matter, as there's the military intervention, the cancer scare, the trapped wife and eventual reconciliation and the secret goal of the original mission all could've gone away and not messed the film up at all as is. Overall, though, it's pretty enjoyable.

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Eden Lake-While on a relaxing, romantic getaway, a woman and her boyfriend inadvertently find themselves under attack by a gang of relentless youths who pursue and terrorize them through the wooded area they've chosen to relax in. A really hard one to get a view on, as there's parts that are just wonderful and some that are beyond maddening. Certainly, the storyline allows for a lot to like here, with the endless chasing around in the wilderness, getting scratched and cut up makes for some pretty intense situations, and a realistic series of confrontations in the later half is certainly enjoyable. That also delivers a ton of gore and some pretty brutal moments, which is certainly something to be applauded and the concept of what happens in them is certainly enjoyable. The main problem here is that nothing makes sense as to why it's going down as everyone has faulty motives for continuing onward, and it's not really enjoyable to watch them attempt to make them so. That hurts it somewhat, but it's certainly enjoyable enough.

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Executioners from Shaolin-After learning of his father's death, a man living in disguise as a girl with his mother learns both her style of kung-fu as well as his dad's style to take revenge on the gang responsible for his father's death. Absolutely fun entry here, one of the better kung-fu films of the period and definitely has a lot to like here as the two different styles are pressed together in numerous exceptionally well-done fight scenes that are nothing short of jaw-dropping. The comedy is a little hit-or-miss, though the sight of an elderly man dragging a fit and virile guy along the ground while his foot is lodged in his groan screaming for mercy is gut-busting of the highest order. Fast, vicious and energetic fight scenes, very little down-time and lame comedy, sounds like a winner to me.